01 Nov 2027 Cinelli Lecture
Join us to uncover the stories hidden in Etruscan tombs
TALES FROM THE DEAD: UNRAVELING TRANSCULTURAL INTERACTIONS THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF THE ETRUSCAN TOMB
Pristine funerary contexts present excellent opportunities for better understanding ancient societies thanks to particular characteristics that make them different from settlements or sanctuaries.
An intact tomb is a closed system, a kind of time capsule, which comprises a structure, a body or bodies of the deceased and, more often than not, an array of manufactured objects deposited within or in connection with it. Because archaeologists reconstruct history from material traces, spectacular elite burials with copious grave goods are particularly helpful in piecing together ancient exchange and communication networks.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition Across Wine-Dark Seas gathers selected objects from tomb groups from various regions and time periods to illustrate many facets of the intercultural exchanges in antiquity. In her talk, Delphine Tonglet invites the audience to dive into the fascinating subject of the Etruscan groups, and to listen to the tale of the dead.
Meet the Speaker
Delphine Tonglet is Assistant Curator in the Department of Greek and Roman Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Trained as an art historian and archaeologist, she specializes in the study of ancient Greece and Etruria.
Delphine received her PhD degree from the Université libre de Bruxelles in 2014 and has developed an international career through her participation to archaeological excavations―mostly at Itanos in Crete and in Tuscany and Lazio in Italy―and thanks to numerous research stays and scholarships at the University of Pisa, the Academia Belgica in Rome, the University of Bologna, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Andrew W. Mellon Senior Fellowship, 2015–16).
Her favorite research themes deal with intercultural exchanges between Etruria, the Greeks, and other Mediterranean actors, through the study of material culture.