This fibula, or brooch or clothing clasp, was donated to the museum with very little background information. In order to determine its origin, we had to analyze the material, style and manufacture technique of the object.

Bronze brooches are common throughout the ancient Mediterranean world. But the shape and decoration of this piece are distinctive:

• The near-rectangular shape created by three coils in the bronze is fairly uncommon.
• The geometric decoration engraved on the flat, hammered section of the brooch, a series of triangles with cross hatches, is common in ancient Italian metalwork, especially in the proto-Villanovan period.
• The most distinctive feature, however, is the complicated catch and spiral which cradle the pin of the fibula. This catch, created by carefully hammering and bending the bronze back against itself, developed around 1200 BC, just as the Bronze Age was giving way to the Iron Age.

Based on similar brooches found in other proto-Villanovan burials, the spiral places this item firmly in the earliest phase of Etruscan culture.

Styles evolve

The spiral that extends from the catch in this brooch was probably added simply to make the remaining piece of bronze aesthetically pleasing. Over the course of centuries, however, the spiral became a far larger and more important part of these brooches. It eventually developed into a flattened disk, which became the main feature of the brooch rather than an afterthought.

Thus, our brooch is a very early form which later developed into the distinctive “disc fibula” commonly associated with male burials.

Other Etruscan bronze work

These pieces come from a much later period in Etruscan history, but they give us a sense of skill of their craftsmen.

Sculpture of a lion, approx. 400 BC
Courtesy Sebastià Geralt
Bronze cosmetics container, approx. 300 BC
Courtesy mharrsch
Bronze chariot
Courtesy peterj1961
Bronze helmet, approx. 450 BC
Courtesy mharrsch
Bronze cheese grater, approx. 450 BC
Courtesy diffendale

Italy before the Romans

Dead men do tell tales

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