d in that district in the basin of the Po. These people were
lake-dwellers, barely removed from the Neolithic stage of culture, and
their pottery was of the rudest kind, hand-made and roughly baked. Cups
and pots have been found sometimes with simple decoration in the form of
knobs or bosses, and many have a crescent-shaped handle serving as a
support for the thumb.

The next period, the earliest which can be spoken of as "Etruscan," is
known as the "Villanova" period, from a site of that name near Bologna,
or as the period of pit-tombs (_a pozzo_), from the form of the graves
in which the pottery has been found (see VILLANOVA). It begins with the
9th century B.C. and lasts for about two hundred years. The pit-tombs
usually contain large cinerary urns or _ossuaria_ (containing the ashes
of the dead), fashioned by hand from a badly-levigated volcanic clay
known as _impasto Italico_. These vessels were irregularly baked in an
open fire, and the colour of the surface varies from red-brown to
greyish black. They appear to have been covered with a polished slip,
intended to give the vases a metallic appearance. The shape of the urns
is peculiar, but uniform; they have a small handle at the widest part
and a cover in the form of an inverted bowl with handle (Plate III. fig.
63). Their ornamentation consists of incised or stamped geometrical
ornaments formed in the moist clay in bands round the neck and body;
more rarely patterns painted in white are found. Common pottery is also
found showing little advance on that of the Terramare period except in
variety of decoration. The technique and ornament are the same as in the
case of the urns. They correspond in development, though not in date, to
the early pottery of Troy and Cyprus, as well as to the primitive
pottery of other races, but one marked difference is the general
fondness of the Italian potter for vases with handles.

Sometimes the cinerary urns take the form of huts (_tuguria_), though
these are more often found in the neighbourhood of Rome. One of the best
examples is in the British Museum; it still contains ashes which were
inserted through a little door secured by a cord passing through rings.
The ornamentation suggests the rude carpentry of a primitive hut, the
cover or roof being vaulted with raised ridges to represent the beams.
The surface is polished, and other specimens are occasionally painted
with patterns in white.

In the next stage a change is seen in