Many of these are quite plain, but the majority are decorated with geometrical patterns, like the _ossuaria_ or urns already described. Some of the patterns show quite a mechanical regularity, as if produced from a stamp. These take the form of circular sinkings and other patterns formed by circles, an early instance of a motive which afterwards became common in Etruria. There are even some instances of designs in colour, a sort of cream pigment being used. A peculiarity of this class is the fondness for protuberances in the form of horns on the handles (_ansae lunulatae_), which are also found in the Terramare, as already mentioned; or knobs round the body of the vase, in order to hold cords for suspension, which afterwards served a merely decorative purpose, like the bosses on cups described by Homer.[2258] Sometimes are to be seen rude attempts at modelling horses or heads of oxen, or at giving the whole vase the form of a bird, as is seen in some of the _aski_.[2259] The absence of accessory vases in Villanuova tombs, as is sometimes the case at Vulci,[2260] seems to show either very great antiquity or else a long survival of an older type. On the whole, however, a chronological classification is hardly possible. Generally speaking, the pit-tombs were still in use throughout Etruria at the end of the eighth century, and no tombs of the next stage can be dated earlier than 700 B.C. The line of demarcation for the latter end of the period is therefore the seventh century, coincident with the first undoubtedly Greek importations found in the tombs. The real interest of the Villanuova period is, however, centred in remains which do not come within our province—namely, the objects in bronze which have been found in such enormous numbers at Bologna, Vetulonia, and elsewhere.[2261] They fall into line with the earliest remains on Hellenic sites—such as Olympia, Rhodes, and Crete—and a connection can often be traced, as in the fibulae, with the Hallstatt civilisation.[2262] On the other hand, they are entirely free from any Oriental influence.