
Intact, Packed Etruscan Tomb Found - diodorus
http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/intact-packed-etruscan-tomb-found-151204.htm
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tragomaskhalos
"One of the sarcophagi, made from stone, bears a long inscription". Given that
these sorts of inscriptions are usually very stereotypical and therefore not
very revealing linguistically, this sound intriguing, is it too much to hope
that it will advance our knowledge of the language ?

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pmontra
A video (in Italian) at [http://corrieredellumbria.corr.it/video/203001/Citta-
della-P...](http://corrieredellumbria.corr.it/video/203001/Citta-della-Pieve--
nuove-immagini.html) Interesting parts from 0:20 to 0:50 and after 1:15. That
pike scares me a little but hopefully they know what they are doing. The man
being interviewed says that they're not using heavy machinery because it would
destroy all the chances of doing a stratigraphy analysis.

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eponeponepon
The Etruscans are fascinating; they're _so_ close in time to the early Roman
and middle-kingdom Egyptian civilisations that we know so much about, and they
were demonstrably very familiar to both of those civilisations, yet we know so
very little about them for certain.

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dpeck
There is a theory that Romans destroyed many records and artifacts of it. They
were subject to the Etruscan kings early in its history and were not very fond
of that aspect of their hostory.

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JoeAltmaier
I'm always suspicious of Etruscan finds. Some original 'tombs' were empty when
first recorded, then mysteriously full of artifacts decades later. Something
fishy going on.

And the finds are always so 'pat'. The museum I visited had amphorae with
amusing graffiti, toys and knickknacks, even a 'pencil cup' with the Etruscan
and Greek alphabets written around the top. So convenient! So that everything
else could be instantly translated, this 'Rosetta stone' was included no extra
charge.

And now a complete tomb found, with just the right sort of cool stuff to get
the tourists coming back for another 10 years. Ok.

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euyyn
So your theory is there was no such thing as an Etruscan people?

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harlanlewis
This is the first I've heard of counterfeit Etruscan sites, but it's not
entirely dismissable. Early archaeology was a mix of wholesale grave looting
and falsifying finds to generate interest in the site and give glory to the
discoverer. Egyptian mummies floating around Europe during "Egyptomania"
(after Napolean's visit) were often much, MUCH younger than ancient Egypt.

It seems unlikely to me that any modern sites are actually digging up planted
relics, but inflating the finds at tourist sites by importing from one site to
another, or creating replicas to make up for assumed grave robbery? Almost
harder to believe that doesn't happen.

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euyyn
Going to the length of making up a language, as that guy suggests?

