Exactly zero explanation as to HOW exactly this find will change any history at all. Great find. No idea of its significance. Bad article.

> I thought that it was history that Rome was just a small city in the periphery of the Etruscan city-state coalition

While it is a common cliche to say Rome was "just a small village" it is worth noting that is mostly Roman self mythologizing being accepted uncritically--By the late sixth/early fifth century Rome was already the great power in central Italy. As an illustrative proxy, the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus one of the largest in the entire Mediterranean, larger than any Etruscan temple.

For me it's the bronzes. There aren't that many bronze statues because people melted them down. Many of the famous statues are stone copies of bronze originals-you can't melt down marble, so they are the ones that survive.

The Etruscans continued to exist as a people for a long long time after Roman conquest.

It says more than 2000 year, not 2000 year.

It was born in fascist times to affirm Italian superiority over foreign cultures, educating foreign students to the italian ways.

It is well regarded, despite it's origin and weird name. It is a small university specialized in Italy in forming "italian-as-a-second language teachers" and outside Italy with courses of italian language and culture.

3 of the first 7 mythical Roman kings were Etruscan: Tarquinio Prisco, Servio Tullio and Tarquinio il Superbo.

It was mostly histories, but well accepted and not meaningless.

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Article mentions "the ministry" but doesn't specify which...?

This is the right answer. Same basic mechanism for the fossilization of organic parts, otherwise they decay.

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The article references shedding new light on a period from 2nd to 1st century BC.

University for Barbarians* good spot.

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I guess it depends on how long they threw stuff in the pit.

>This is huge

It's bigger than that Chris, it's large

I volunteered at an Etruscan necropolis archaeological dig a few years back and found a bronze mirror dated to 300-600BCE. Was really cool.

All the pottery had finger prints around the base where they held it to dip it into the glaze. Was interesting to think about while holding the 2000+ year old pottery that had fingerprints on it.

Good point, i wonder if that was typo or if this needs to be cross sited?

Absolutely, the Etruscans were heavily involved with trade with those cultures, so they were also influenced each other. However due to a lack of Etruscan literary sources and that we do not fully understand their language, much of what we know about them is from a Greek and Roman persepctives, so it is slightly skewed. The Romans are commonly viewed as being culturally dominant in Italy, rather then being part of a large network of interaction, with the Etruscans tending to be forgotton in the cultural landscape in comparison to the Greeks and Romans. By describing the Etruscans with terms such as 'Romanisation' sort of implies that the Romans influenced the Etruscans in a one way exchange, rather then a complex cultural exchange. Part of what made the Romans so successful in their conquest of Italy was their integration of cultures, rather then complete replacement. Artefacts like the bronzes in this article demonstrate this integration of cultures, even within Roman control.

It was, Livy wrote about it 2000 years ago lol

Livy already mentions this when he describes how Romans would invite Etruscan leaders to visit Rome... I don't know, I don't think these statues revolutionize much

Look up some auctions too! You could get awesome deals on some neat coins. I got a Trajan sestertius celebrating his victory of Dacia for €70

Biddr.com is my recommended auction site.

2000 years ago was 22AD, Roman was already an empire and was a republic for over 700-800 years. Dont the statue need to be like 2800-3000 years old for any new data on roman-Etruscan history?

I thought that it was history that Rome was just a small city in the periphery of the Etruscan city-state coalition but the Romans just took on other cultures ideas like religion and sailing. Although, any Etruscan artifacts are hard to come by. It’s like to how they incorporate Greek, Carthiginian, Persian, and Egyptian influences.

Bronze statues from the ancient world are rare because they were mostly melted down. I believe the majority of surviving ancient bronzes come from shipwrecks for that reason.