However, those legends and ideas about Etruscans, that were transmitted since the Renaissance period and especially excited the curiousity of searchers and scholars of the 18th century, ran at a time when archeology as it is now, did not exist and was often synonymous with mere looting or at least with the seeking of beautiful art masterpieces to be collected by wealthy explorers. Thus, they used to dig with no other methods, than certain techniques that assured the searcher of the wealth of the site. Often, they did not really attempt to understand this culture and civilization but just to preserve, what they considered to be masterpieces of art. Thus, in this process, a lot of useful artifacts have been destroyed or lost. Indeed, if highly decorated pottery, jewelry and precious objects are of a great help to understand the Etruscans' sense of aesthetic and art, they are almost useless when it comes to understand their way of life and their customs, which artifacts (ie everyday pottery, remains of clothes, food, bones, carved stones, foundations, landscape appearance) can reveal a lot about.
Etruscan archeology did not start seriously before the middle of the 19th century and even at this time, the technology did not allow people to be as precise and specific as nowadays. Indeed, not only did looting reduce the availability of artifacts in a way that delayed significantly the understanding of many areas of the Etruscan life, but also the fragility of the building material used by them to build houses (most of the time, wood) and the reusing of construction sites by later inhabitants. Another important factor was that Etruscans were at war with most of their neighbours, starting in the 6th century until the 3rd century BC, when they became totally Romanized and lost their identifiable distinction as a civilisation. However, a lot of written records by writers and historians, both Roman and Greek, which contain a fair amount of information about these people have come to us in Latin and Greek. Thus, most of what we know about the Etruscans comes from contemporary sources and although they are certainly subjectively biased, they allow us to have an insight and taste of their life and society, as well as about the Romanization process that, not only they but also other Italian people underwent starting from the 5th-4th century BC.
The fact that Romans borrowed elements from almost all areas of their life affected a lot the transmission of the Etruscan tradition, which in a way, never totally died out, but survived embedded into the Roman culture. Indeed, two of the kings who ruled Rome were from Etruscan origin and they brought with them many aspects of their culture, such as the circus games, many religious practices, architecture elements, artistic styles, war strategies, and social organisation. Both Lucius Tarquinius Priscus (Tarquin I, 616-579) and Lucius Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin II, 534-510) had a tremendous influence on the Roman society and culture of their time. They also instigated the assimilation of the Etruscan population into the Roman culture.
Today, most of the Etruscan sites include tombs or religious temples, which were the most solidly built buildings. However, there are almost no sites, (aside from La Piana village) which can instruct us about their everyday life, their agricultural and building technics, economy, or the political and social organization of their communities. However, this does not mean that it is the only one that remains, but only that archaeological teams have not yet found any other. There is still a lot of work to do in Tuscany and Southern Italy, where the Etruscan population seems to have been the most important. The fact that one has found so many well preserved tombs and so few remains of other tombs has lead a lot of archaeologists to suggest that these people the life on earth was only temporal and did not require lasting goods while they would have stressed the importance of a eternal house for the other world of after-life.
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