Investigation of the pigment use in the Tomba dei Rilievi and other tombs in the Etruscan Banditaccia Necropolis. PIGMENTGEBRAUCH IM GRAB DER RELIEFS UND ANDEREN GRÄBERN DER ETRUSKISCHEN BANDITACCIA NEKROPOLE

The use of pigments in antiquity, by Romans, Greeks and Egyptians, has been subject to a number of scientific studies. That of contemporary cultures, such as the Etruscans, have been described only in a small number of publications. We investigated the pigment use in five tombs of the Banditaccia Necropolis, near Cerveteri in central Italy: Tomba dei Rilievi (4th century BC), Tomba Mengarelli (7th century BC), Tumolo Policromo (4th century BC), Tomba delle Onde Marine (4th-3rd century BC) and an yet untitled recently excavated tomb (4th century BC (preliminary)). All were carved from the soft tuff bedrock. A special focus was put on the Tomba dei Rilievi (Tomb of the Reliefs. It is for up to 45 bodies with 13 loculus (burial niches) the largest of the investigated tombs and the only one decorated with painted stucco reliefs.