Villanovan

Refers to the Iron Age period and culture named after the site at Villanova, near Bologna, Italy. It is evident in northern and central Italy and Campania in the ninth and eighth centuries BCE, continuing in northern Italy until the sixth century BCE. The culture varied in different areas and at different times, but it is generally characterized by distinctive cemeteries, armor, weapons, jewelry, and grave urns and other pottery, including double-coned and house-shaped urns, decorated with geometric designs produced by scratching and stamping. Many scholars believe that the Villanovan culture probably developed from a branch of the Urnfield cultures of eastern Europe that moved into Italy, and were eventually confronted with advancing Etruscans. Others classify Villanovan as the beginning of Etruscan civilization.