Around 500 BC, the Fritzens-Sanzeno culture, also known as culture of the Raeti, after the goddess Raetia who according to Roman authors was the main deity of the people inhabiting the region, succeeded both the Laugen-Melaun culture of the southern and the Urnfield culture of the northern part of Tyrol.Gleirscher 1991. As in the preceding culture, the richly ornamented pottery is very characteristic, while many aspects such as the metal-working, burial customs and religion are strongly influenced by its neighbours, primarily the Etruscans and Celts. Nonetheless, the Fritzens-Sanzeno-people possessed important distinct cultural traits distinguishing them from adjacent groups, such as the typical mountain-sanctuaries already in use during the time of the Laugen-Melaun culture, certain types of fibulae, bronze armor, and their own alphabet derived from one of North Etruscan alphabets (but not from the Etruscan alphabet). The language of the Raeti was kin to Etruscan, but different enough to suggest a very ancient divergence between them.Oettinger, Norbert. Seevoelker und Etrusker. // Pax Hethitica. Studies on the Hittites and their neighbors in honor of Itamar Singer. Wiesbaden, 2010
