On the front of the container in bas-relief  with a Judge being pulled by four horses on his way to the Inferi: this is a common subject for burial urns from Volterra, and can be included in a production that counts two other urns recovered during the restoration of the Pieve di San Leonardo in Artimino. The urns are pertinent to sculpture from the Hellenistic period and support the hypothesis that the area close to and immediately surrounding the church once had an Etruscan settlement.

An oval shaped stele decorated on the front and back with a wide palmette between two volutes, of excellent quality.  The inscription Vipia Vetes’ can be found on the side.

This belongs to the class of c.d. “pietre fiesolane”; form and inscription indicate that this stele was made for a female tomb.

The stele has been given an approximate dating, the end of the   VI-beginning of the V century B.C.

A large cratere with columns decorated with painted red figures depicting scenes that come form the Dionisiac world.

The decorations presumably allude to the scenes of initiation of  to the Cult of Dionisio of a girl (who may be identifiable as the deceased) and is datable in the IV century B.C., when the Dionysus cult were introduced from Greece and became common practice throughout Etruria.  The vase originally designed for the preparation of wine, was used as a burial urn.  It is part  of a splendid service that was composed of bronze vases in excellent condition:  a situla, olpe, pan and a sieve as well as three small ladles.  Attributed to a maestro that probably came form Chiusi, who moved and worked in a workshop in Volterra between 340 and 330/320 B.C. and attests to the continuity of the relationship (which was already documented in the end of the VIII beginning of the VII centuries B.C. by the Tomb of the Warrior in Prato Rosello)between the area of Volterra and that of Artimino and allows us to place the latter in a commercial and cultural route that connected the Etrurian mines to the Mid- Valdarno and continued past the Appennine mountains to reach the Padani city centers.

Tombstone in the shape of a parrallelpiped decorated with a bas relief.

The tombstone, that represents the deceased idealized as a warrior with oplitic armour, is one of the best esamples of a series called “Fiesole Stones” .  This is a monument destined for a rural magnate, the fact that he belongs to the aristocracy can be confirmed with the warrior or priest ideology that gets its richness from the fertile agricultural area, as well as the control of various commercial and cultural  routes.    End of the VI century B.C._ begining of the V century B.C.

This finely incised decoration is divided into three friezes one on top of the other, framed by bands:  the lower rectangular middle band with a botanical design; underneath among plants if a winged female figure kneeling to the left and wearing a dress decorated diamonds-  The hypothesis that the female figure can be identified as the Gorgon Medusa has been advanced, based on the iconography that does not adhere to canonized Hellenistic models.

Produced by a northern workshop – last quarter of the VII-beginning of the VI century B.C.

Ovoid olla, with a vertical neck and a double cover:  the external cover forms a wide low truncated conical shape; while the internal one forms a disc shape.  Bands have been applied to preparatory incisions:  horizontal cords on the olla and large zig-zag disgns on the external cover.

The vase appears to belong to a group that was widely diffused in the area of Volterra.

The tomb and the burial objects found there, probably belonged to more than one burial and are dated between the last twenty years of the VII century and the beginning of the VI century B.C.

The tomb’s burial objects, both for their quality and richness, are the expr4ession of an enviroment capable of collecting and appreciating the luxury of imported objects- as is the case with the “New Year’s flask”  which is of Egyptian production as well as other “exotic” products  (like ivory)- but at the same time they were capable of reworking these ideas and experiences that came from other areas, like the olla, and adapt them to their own figurative culture.

His mouth is open and is clearly growling, characterized by a strong volumetric design, he has a compact robust body,  with a very curved spine and his hind quarters are raised, maybe in the act of attacking; his wings are erect, and have  meticulously stylized feathers with creases on the superior border and the inside.

Produced by a workshop in the northern-etruscan area active in the second half of the VII century B.C.

The element that characterises this figure- which has almost completely lost her face- is the hair with bangs in the front, two braids on the sides of her face and a wide mass of hair with vertical wisps with deep grooves on the cranium, which make up a large long braid indicated by the incised oblique tracts.The body which is wearing a chitone and perhaps a cape on her shoulder, conserves part of the bust with the left arm attached; the retro side is flat, typical of the caryatid figures and the tetra-pod molds.

Produced by a northern-etruscan workshop active in the second half of the VII century B.C.

Armed on the left with a short lance with a long wide blade on the right.  On the face an oval eye can be distinguished, the nose is very pronounced with evident wrinkles and a strong chin.  The figure is characterized by the bell shaped helmet with a crest of long horse hair, and the large oval shield carefully decorated with radialdesign and a gathered tunic that reaches his robust shins.

Produced by a northern-etruscan workshop active in the second half of the VII century B.C.

Round pyx made from the  “coreboring” of a tusk. The external surface is decorated with 18 horizontal grooves placed between two smooth bands.  The border is flat and suggests that there was a lid that fit precisely onto the pyx.  The base presents a perfectly regular recession for a disc of some unknown material that made up the base.

Produced by a workshop in the northern Etruscan territory that was active in the second half of the  VII century B.C.

Hemispherical shape with a separate straight smooth edge;  the cup is decorated externally parallel ribs that start at the bottom of this single footed object that has the round center so clearly underlined.

This extraordinary object is similar to some fragments found at  Forte Salmanassar a Nimrud, in an area full of precious decorations and objects.  The hypothesis has been put forward that this was an object made by the Syrians or the Phoenicians, more likely candidates than the Assyrians, and imported in the West for a special occasion.

Kardiophilax (to protect the heart) of a rectangular shape with a concave shape for the long sides and a straight edge fro the short sides with many small holes that were used to attach the shield to the leather armour.
Together with blade of a lance and a dagger with its sheath, made of iron, made  up the  armament of this young warrior buried int he tomb of the Artimino necropolis at the end of the VIII – beginning of the VII century B.C.

The lip of the vase bends outward, the body is biconic, the high foot is troncoconic, the handles are loops which are places horizontally on the shoulder of the vase.

This is the most precious element of the service for the funeral banquet, placed next to the large dolio that contained the bronze funerary urn.  Inside a lens of compact material has been found.  Spectroscope analysis was performed and revealed the presence of pine resin and beeswax; the palynological analysis reveals the presence of  granules from pollen sacs and spores:  18 belonging to arboreal plants or bushes and 50 from grassy plants, including Mint, Centaurea, Potentilla, Poppy, Clover; it has also been noted that 99% of the granules found belong to plants that have some role in beekeeping.