Appunti di storia sociale etrusca: Cerveteri fra VI e V secolo a.C.

In this paper, the Etruscan city of Cerveteri (Caere) is selected and analysed as an observatory of the social processes that affected Etruscan history in the period between the late 6th and the early 5th centuries BC. In this chronological horizon, the city underwent important social transformations that can be detected and investigated in depth in several fields. In particular, the author looks for evidence of the existence of a 'middle' class both in the funerary documentation (monumental architecture, tomb planning, grave goods), and in the dossiers relating to the people's lifestyle, their religious beliefs and 'material culture'. Particular emphasis is put on the analysis of the written documents, from which one can infer about the existence of a middle class in Caere. In the final section of the article, the author discusses and elaborates on an interesting suggestion made by F.-H. Massa-Pairault in the proceedings of the conference Crise et transformation des sociétés archaïques de l'Italie antique about the connection between the urban transformations and Etruscan handicrafts during the late archaic period. The result of this research is a survey of a critical period of change in southern Etruria