(circa 600-550), as this transition was taking place, that the earliest surviving wall paintings--in tombs in Caere and near Veii--were created. And by the late Archaic era (circa 520-470) "the foremost monuments of the period" are the tomb paintings found at Tarquinia (Brendel 117).
The rise of tomb painting occurred around 600 BC, when the principal features of Etruscan civilization were in place and the people felt secure in their cities. The Archaic period was "a time of confidence and expansion for the Etruscans" and this security led to a desire to depict the beauties of their way of life and provided the leisure to develop the art of creating such pictures (Macnamara 30). Hundreds of painted tombs have been discovered at Tarquinia, Caere, Vulci, Orvieto and other places, and, more than any other source, they provide "a vivid picture of everyday life in Etruria--from games to hunting, wrestling to dinner parties" (Ogilvie 243).
Despite the large numbers of tombs that have been excavated "it is difficult to interpret the Etruscans' concept
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