The Etruscans of first millennium BC central Italy are renowned for their artistic output, but what were the underlying processes of settlement and infrastructure that supported their political achievements? The lecture will provide the complementary evidence of state formation from regional survey and economy that allow comparison of Etruscan state formation with the classic studies from the Old and the New World. The lecture is based on Simon Stoddart's forthcoming book for Cambridge University Press: Power and Place in Etruria. The spatial dynamics of a Mediterranean civilisation. 1200-500 B.C. and more recent collaborative work.