the form of the tombs, the pit
being replaced by a trench; this is accordingly known as the
"trench-tomb" or _a fossa_ period, and extends from the 8th century B.C.
to the beginning of the 6th. Importations of Greek pottery now first
make their appearance. The character of the local pottery actually
remains for some time the same as that of the preceding period, but it
improves in technique. By degrees an improvement in the forms is also
noted, and new varieties of ornamentation are introduced; there is,
however, no evidence that the wheel was used.

Two entirely new classes of pottery are found at Cervetri (Caere)
belonging to the 7th century. One consists of large jars ([Greek:
pithoi]) of red ware, the lower part being moulded in ribs, while the
upper has bands of design stamped round it in groups or friezes. These
designs were either produced from single stamps or rolled out from
cylinders like those used in Babylonia. The subjects are usually
quasi-oriental in character, and it is not certain that this ware was
made in Etruria, especially as similar vases have been found in Rhodes
and Sicily; either it was imported, or it was a local imitation of Greek
models.

The other class is similar as regards the shapes and the nature of the
clay, but is distinguished by having painted subjects in white outlines
on a red glossy ground. The clay, a kind of _impasto Italico_, was first
hardened by baking, and then a mixture of wax, resin and iron oxide was
applied and polished; on this the pigments, a mixture of chalk and
earth, were laid. The subjects are from Greek mythology or are at least
Greek in character, but the technique is purely Etruscan, and the
drawing is crude and un-Greek in the extreme.

The fourth period shows a close continuity with the third; but the
difference is defined firstly by the appearance of a new type of tomb in
the form of a chamber (_a camera_), secondly, by the all-pervading
influence of oriental art, and to a less extent of that of the Greeks.
The period extends from about 650 to 550 B.C., and is further marked by
the general introduction of the wheel into Etruria and by the appearance
of inscriptions in an alphabet derived from western Greece. In the
earlier tombs the typical local pottery is of hand-made _impasto
Italico_ resembling that of the previous periods; in the later we find
what is known as _bucchero_ ware--the national pottery of Etruria--which
is made on the wheel and baked in a