Necropolis of Banditaccia historical timeline

Last updated on October 8, 2026

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9th century B.C. The earliest burials at the Banditaccia: pits holding the ashes of the dead, with simple potholes among them, from the Villanovan culture.
7th century B.C. The orientalising period raises the great tumuli -- circular mounds over rock-cut chambers, scaled up to monumental size. The Regolini-Galassi tomb, with its rich gold finds, dates from the middle of this century.
620 B.C. The Tomb of the Painted Lions.
c. 600 B.C. Caere is at its height, one of the city-states of the Etruscan League, with a population perhaps of 25,000 to 40,000 and an area more than fifteen times that of the modern town. Its wealth comes from the iron-ore of the Tolfa Hills, carried through three sea ports including Pyrgi, which is linked to the city by a road 13 km long and 10 m wide.
6th century B.C. The archaic period brings refined chambers -- the Tomb of the Capitals, the Tomb of the Shields and Chairs -- and the two streets of the visitable area, the Via dei Monti Ceriti and the Via dei Monti della Tolfa, with square dice tombs ranged along them in rows.
4th-2nd century B.C. The late tombs: the Tomb of the Reliefs, the Tomb of the Sea Waves, the Tomb of the Alcove. Burial at the Banditaccia runs on into the third century B.C.
1200 In the thirteenth century the name Caere Vetus comes into use to distinguish the old city from Caere Novum, the present town. The modern name Cerveteri derives from it.
1700 Over the last few centuries the contents of the tombs are excavated, often chaotically and illegally, yielding ceramics and jewellery that now grace museums around the world -- among them the Sarcophagus of the Spouses.
2004 The Banditaccia is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the necropolis at Tarquinia.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — The tombs of the Banditaccia date from the 9th century BC in the Villanovan culture to the later Etruscan period in the third century BC, the earliest being in the shape of a pit in which the ashes of the dead were housed, with simple potholes also present, The most important tombs at the Banditaccia include the Regolini-Galassi tomb with rich gold finds from the mid-7th century BC, the Tomb of the Capitals and the Tomb of the Shields and Chairs of the middle 6th century BC, the Tomb of the Painted Lions of 620 BC, the Tomb of the Reliefs of the 4th to 2nd century BC, the Tomb of the Sea Waves and the Tomb of the Alcove of the 4th to 3rd century BC, together with the Tomba della capanna, the Tomba dei Vasi Greci, the Tomba dei Doli and the Tomba calabresi, From the later Etruscan period there are two types of tomb at the Banditaccia, tumulus-type tombs and the so-called "dice", the latter being simple square tombs built in long rows along roads within the necropolis, and the visitable area contains two such roads, the Via dei Monti Ceriti and the Via dei Monti della Tolfa, of the 6th century BC, Caere was one of the city-states of the Etruscan League and at its height around 600 BC its population was perhaps around 25,000 to 40,000 people; the ancient city was situated about 7 km from the sea, a location that made it a wealthy trading town derived originally from the iron-ore mines in the Tolfa Hills, and it had three sea ports including Pyrgi, connected to Caere by a road about 13 km long and 10 m wide, and Punicum, Cerveteri was known by the ancient Romans as Caere, by the Etruscans as Caisra or Cisra and as Agylla by the Greeks, and its modern name derives from Caere Vetus, used in the 13th century to distinguish it from Caere Novum, the current town, The contents of the tombs at Cerveteri were excavated, often chaotically and illegally, and over the last few centuries have yielded rich and exquisite objects including ceramics and jewellery that today grace many of the world's museums, one famous and important work being the Sarcophagus of the Spouses, The Etruscan Necropoli della Banditaccia has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site together with the necropolis in Tarquinia, covers an area of 400 hectares of which 10 hectares can be visited, encompasses a total of about 1,000 tombs often housed in characteristic mounds, and is the largest ancient necropolis in the Mediterranean area; the name Banditaccia comes from the leasing or bando of areas of land to the Cerveteri population by the local landowners (October 2026).

Necropolis of Banditaccia historical timeline

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