ETRURIA, ITALY—Live Science reports that a 3,000-year-old clay figurine has been recovered from central Italy’s Lake Bolsena, at the site of Gran Carro, an Iron Age village likely submerged during an earthquake. The village is thought to have been built by an early Etruscan people known as the Villanovan culture. The six-inch-long object bears the handprints of its maker, and the impression of a fabric pattern, which suggests that it could have been adorned with a garment. Since the figurine was recovered from a dwelling, researchers from the Superintendency of Archaeology and Fine Arts in Southern Etruria think it may have been a votive figurine used in a domestic ritual. To read about evidence of trade between the Villanovans and the Nuragic people of Sardinia, go to "Tyrrhenian Traders."
