Etruscans Now
Funerary and Ritual studies
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Cornelia Weber-Lehmann - Kunstsammlungen der Ruhr-Universität Bochum
The evidence for the existence of wooden sarcophagi in early Etruria
About the middle of the fourth century BC in the south Etruscan cities production of stone sarcophagi begins; beside the prostrate figures on the cover, they often show paintings or reliefs on the four sides of the case. The appearance of the new genre is often linked to the influence of imports from Carthage (i.e. sarcophagus of the priest, Tarquinia). This attempt at interpretation does not, in my opinion, take into consideration the complexity of the issue.
There is a lot of evidence (for example in the painted tombs of Tarquinia) that burials in wooden sarcophagi had been conventional since the 6th century BC. This evidence can be supported by observations made in Egypt, Apulia and southern Latium. So it could be claimed that the appearance of stone sarcophagi brought about a change of material only, but not a change of burial rites. Considering the continuity of wooden to stone sarcophagi, further open questions (i.e. missing of names in archaic and classical tombs, figural style of the painted stone sarcophagi) can be discussed from a new point of view.