by Jon Lackman | 22 June 2006 | Ancient
From Ansa: “In Italy’s most sensational archaeological find in years, an Etruscan tomb near Rome has yielded the oldest examples of painting in Western civilisation. Experts could barely contain their excitement as they showed reporters five roaring lions and a flock of waterbirds that have emerged from the ground at the buried Etruscan city of Veio north of Rome. ‘We are at the dawn of what has been called Orientalising civilisation,’ said Rome University Etruscanologist Giovanni Colonna, illustrating the discovery just outside the perimeter of the Veio Archaeological Park.” (See also Reuters’ report.)
