Etruscan Temple

A Tuscan farmer found the remnants of what looks to be an ancient structure.  He contacted the local museum with his find and after a few months of studying the remains, local historians and archeologists reveal that it was a site of an Etruscan Temple.  Here is a sketch of the foundation.  


Why did they think it was a Etruscan temple?

Etruscan Temples, Tombs and Houses

Nothing remains of Etruscan palaces, public buildings, and early temples, which were built of wood and brick. Votive ceramic models of temples, as well as traces of later stone structures, indicate that temples were built in enclosures and had tiled, gabled roofs supported on pillars, like their Greek counterparts. A Greek temple, however, was built on an east-west axis on a low terrace and could be entered from a colonnade on all four sides; an Etruscan temple, to meet religious requirements, was located on a north-south axis and stood on a high podium with a four-columned porch in front of three doors leading to three parallel rooms for the three chief Etruscan gods. The brilliantly painted terracotta statuary that decorated the roof along the eaves, ridge pole, and at the gable ends also served the practical purpose of hiding and protecting tile joints and rafter ends. Plaques with low-relief figures adorned the entablature. Roman temples followed the plan developed by the Etruscans.

Most Etruscan cities were laid out in the form of a quadrangle, with fortifications and encompassing walls enforced by double gates and towers. These building methods were also used outside Etruria. The wall surrounding the early city of Rome, reputedly built during the time of Servius Tullius (reigned 578-534 BC) was of Etruscan construction.

Remains of Etruscan houses have been found at San Giovenale, Luni Sul Mignone, and Murlo. The interiors of tombs and house-shaped funerary urns suggest that they had flat or gabled roofs of tile and one to three rooms. Later examples had an atrium, with an open roof over a pool for rainwater, and a loggia—a plan continued by the Romans. The Etruscans also built aqueducts, bridges, and sewers.

Outside the cities were cemeteries containing family tombs. Some were built underground but, as at Cerveteri, had large vaults of overlapping stones covered by mounds of earth. Early tombs were simple structures, no more than a narrow passage partitioned into two rooms, with a small alcove on either side of the front room. Later tombs contained several rooms laid out to resemble a house. They held sarcophagi, funerary urns, and offerings, according to regional practice.

Information provided by: http://www.andygam.dircon.co.uk