The proto-Villanovan cremation horizon spread rapidly across Italy signaling elite-driven cultural change rather than uniform population replacement.
The funeral rite marks broader shifts in status, trade orientation, and elite mobility across regions.
insights INSIGHT
Material Traditions Moved Separately From Languages
Material traditions like the Eburnean/Urnfield styles came from north of the Alps and spread into Italy, linking to Proto-Italo-Celtic linguistic ties.
Archaeology suggests cultural diffusion and elite movement shaped languages and artifacts differently.
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At the beginning of the Iron Age, around 950 BC, Italy was a land of farming villages; just a few centuries later, it was one of the wealthiest and most densely urbanized parts of the Mediterranean world. This dramatic change was a product of a new world driven by metalworking, cities, and powerful elite groups.
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