Quantitative analysis of the Etruscans, employing statistical and scientific techniques, has been more neglected. Some work has now been undertaken on the statistics of trade and inscriptions to complement the qualitative analysis of Etruscan cultural history. Further work of a quantititative nature has been carried out on landscape issues ranging from geomorphology to settlements, including rank size analysis and other mathematical models of settlement analysis. This type of approach permits a more comparative analysis of the Etruscans, allowing this specific case of state formation to be placed alongside other, more broadly researched examples from the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and Mesoamerica.
Historical Dictionary of the Etruscans. Simon K. F. Stoddart.