STATE FORMATION

   Scholars have debated the timing and rate of development of Etruscan state formation. It is clear that most Etruscan settlements were occupied by the Final Bronze Age, achieved high levels of population nucleation by 950 BC (using the new chronology), and showed clear signs of social differentiation by the ninth century BC. Some scholars, generally those studying the Final Bronze Age and early Iron Age, consider state formation to have occurred by the time of the initial nucleation in the tenth century BC. At this stage, there are reasons of demography and scale for considering state formation to have occurred, but at least initially there is no clear emergence of status differentiation. Other scholars, generally those studying the later Etruscans, tend to emphasize the impact of the Greeks and importance of the full development of state institutions and territorial control in the eighth or seventh century BC. At that time, the monumentality of the state apparatus was fully visible in many dimensions: public buildings, demographic density, and status differentiation. Ultimately, the question is a matter of definition. A similar issue is the distinction of urbanism from state formation. Urbanism is generally related to demographic levels and monumental structures such as walls, public buildings, and (particularly in the case of the Etruscans) tomb construction. State formation relates more to hierarchical control of the territory and administrative structures that can be inferred from the scale of urbanism and the presence of offices such as the magistrateship and lucomon.

   See also METHLUM; REGIONALITY; SOCIAL CLASS.