AS-4 potsherd

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Object
Classification:	vessel
Archaeological type:	coppa con corpo a calotta tipo 1a or coppa con corpo emisferico tipo 1b
Material:	pottery
Condition:	fragmentary
Date:	4th–2nd centuries BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	Rotzo (Vicenza, Veneto, Italy)
Field name:	Bostel
Archaeological context:	settlement (Objects: AS-1 potsherd, AS-2 potsherd, AS-3 potsherd, AS-4 potsherd, AS-12 needle, AS-15 beaker, AS-16 beaker, AS-17 potsherd, AS-18 potsherd, AS-19 beaker, AS-20 potsherd, AS-21 beaker, AS-22 beaker, AS-23 beaker)
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 51' 43.20" N, 11° 23' 49.20" E [from site]
Find date:	1912
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	unknown (currently untraceable)
Inscription:	AS-4 (]?θθ[)
Sources:	Pellegrini 1915: 120–121, pl. II.22 PID: 32 (No. 218 ii) Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 36 (No. 154), fig. 37.154

Images

Object AS-4 potsherd with inscription AS-4.

Commentary

Fragment of a ceramic vessel.
According to Pellegrini the fragment comes from the same kind of cup like AS-3 potsherd, AS-5 potsherd, AS-6 potsherd as well as AS-7 potsherd. He describes this ceramic type in the following way: "Bicchiere ad orlo aggettante, ventre espanso verso il piede, d'argilla per lo più cinerea depuratissima, a volte però anche rossiccia, lavorato al tornio (...)". He adds that this kind of cup is the common ceramic type of Bostel (cp. Pellegrini 1915: 120). On the archaeological drawing on pl. II.6 Pellegrini represents a perfect example for this ceramic type. By comparing this drawing with the indications given by Leonardi and Ruta Serafini related to the common ceramic type in Bostel and the appearance of inscribed fragments as well as the fig. 36.2, it can be stated as result that only by comparing the photos and drawings the ceramic type must be Tipo 4b - Bicchiere carenato a corpo tozzo. Contrary to this result however is the fact that related to this ceramic type only one, but complete extant exemplar was discovered during the excavation of 1912 and it is not one of the common pottery of Bostel. Due to the indications related to common ceramic type and the frequency of characters on the fragments as well as the fragmentary condition of the object it can be assumed that the fragment either stems from a coppa con corpo a calotta tipo 1a or a coppa con corpo emisferico tipo 1b or that the ceramic type is not determinable (cp. the same questionability with: AS-3 potsherd, AS-5 potsherd, AS-6 potsherd and AS-7 potsherd).
On the fragment characters.
By comparing Pellegrini's study and the volume of Leonardi and Ruta Serafini it can be noted that the fragment, according to Leonardi and Ruta Serafini with the No. 154, is similar (identical?) to the potsherd documented on the archaeological drawing by Pellegrini (cp. Pellegrini 1915: pl. II.22 and Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: fig. 33. 154). But Leonardi and Ruta Serafini indicate the fragment as one of the findings from the excavation 1969. It can be assumed, in all probability, that the fragment documented by Leonardi and Ruta Serafini represents the fragment discovered during the excavation 1912. Therefore it is questionable if the classification according to the excavation 1912 on one side and 1969 on the other side indicated by Leonardi and Ruta Serafina is correct. Moreover, at this point, Leonardi and Ruta Serafini classify this potsherd stemming from a not-determinable ceramic type. Therefore an identification of the indications given by Pellegrini with these of Leonardi and Ruta Serafini is elusive or not at all impossible.
The fragment was discovered during the excavation in the area of the Raetic settlement in 1912 executed by Alfonso Alfonsi, the superintendent of the Museo Nazionale Atestino at this time and associated with the Reale Soprintendenza per i Musei e gli scavi di Antichità del Veneto conducted by Giuseppe Pellegrini during this period. The entire material discovered in the Raetic settlement of Bostel in 1912 was preserved in the Museo di Asiago. Before the destruction of the museum during the war years 1915–1918 these findings were transported and securely stored in the Museo Nazionale Atestino. However, the current location is uncertain. The material could be possibly still preserved in the Museo Nazionale Atestino or it is stored in the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Veneto. Also possible is a storage in the newly founded museum, the Museo Archeologico dell'Alto Vicentino in Santorso. But obviously the material was traceable until 1981 because of the fact that the entire material from the excavation 1912 was documented on archaeological drawings and photos in the published work of Leonardi and Ruta Serafini (cp. Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 16–34, fig. 16–31). In this context it must be mentioned that the fragment documented with No. 154 by Leonardi and Ruta Serafini (discussion see above) is preserved in the Museo Nazionale Atestino without inventory number.
According to Leonardi and Ruta Serafini the analysis of the excavations and the material yields the following timeframe: related to the entire material and the residential structure discovered during the excavations of 1912 and 1969 only few facts date to the III periodo atestino. The major part dates to the 4th–2nd centuries BC (cp. Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 66). Therefore, related to the potsherd, a dating to the 4th–2nd centuries BC -analogous to the other findings from Bostel- is to be favoured.
So far not autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum. The indications follow the information given in literature (cp. below the bibliography).

S.K.

Bibliography

Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981	Giovanni Leonardi, Angela Ruta Serafini, "L'abitato protostorico di Rotzo (Altipiano di Asiago)", Preistoria Alpina 17 (1981), 7–75.