Ducks and the Dead: Lozenge Belts and Elite Personas in Early Iron Age Etruria

Abstract This article analyzes lozenge belts to comprehend community construction across Villanovan Etruria. While lozenge belts have received some prior analyses, none have focused specifically on their funerary context nor the role they played in constructing the corpse as a means for understanding the communities that dressed those corpses. The article studies how communities formed dressed corpses and how the belts invested those corpses with specific personas. From this, we can extrapolate new insights into how these communities constructed, presented, and understood themselves. This analysis first considers how funerary dress generally constructs and invests personas in ancient communities, especially Etruscan, and then analyzes the belts in terms of how they were worn, their role in grave assemblages, and the significance of their form and decoration. The result provides a holistic, kaleidoscopic image of what the belts were and how they functioned in the funeral. Through this discussion, new facets of these communities, including a surprisingly shared construction of certain social personas, appear including clear associations between the belts and the construction of high status, weaving associations, specific elements of cult, and communication with northern Europe.