FANS

   In common with the sun shade (used to provide protection from the sun) and the folding stool (used to provide rest), fans were employed to improve the climate of the elite and show difference in status, most prominently in the Orientalizing period from the second half of the eighth century BC. The majority of surviving fans are made out of bronze, with others out of ivory, wood, and straw. Fans from South Etruria (Veii, Narce, Trevignano Romano) were generally more rectilinear in form, whereas fans from North Etruria (Vetulonia, Marsiliana d’Albegna, Populonia) have more of the appearance of modern fans. The fan was usually associated with male burials between the eighth century and the end of the seventh century BC.