PU-11 stone

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Object
Classification:	unidentifiable
Material:	stone
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	Late Iron Age
Date:	5th–4th centuries BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	St. Lorenzen / San Lorenzo di Sebato (Bozen / Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)
Field name:	Steger
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 46' 55.20" N, 11° 54' 14.40" E [from site]
Find date:	1982
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	Museum Mansio Sebatum (on exhibition)
Inventory Nr.:	none
Inscription:	PU-11 (kụa)
Sources:	Marinetti 1992: 697–698 [No. 7], fig. 2 Constantini 2002: 41

Commentary

Small object of soft stone.
Surface polished, longish form. At one end relief-like cuttings.
On the object an inscription composed of 3 characters.
The stone object comes from the excavations executed by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Veneto and directed by the Museo Nazionale Atestino in 1982 on the hill Steger (cp. Marinetti 1992: 691, fn. 1).
The age determination to the Late Iron Age, i.e. from the 5th to the 1st centuries BC, corresponds to the cultural context of the Raetic inscriptions.
Concerning function and/or application of the small stone object a reliable statement cannot be made. The reducing end indicates relief-like cuttings which seem to be made intentionally. As per Marinetti's study the shape as well as these cuttings are evocative of a foot or a fish (cp. Marinetti 1992: 697: "il risultato di tale lavorazione ricorda come forma un piede, oppure (...) un pesce"). Related to the Fritzens-Sanzeno-culture other objects in the shape of a fish and/or which remind of a fish (cp. i.a. SZ-1 bronze, SZ-2 bronze or SZ-4 bronze) or objects which present a foot, e.g. a votive figure from Mechel / Meclo preserved in the Castello del Buonconsiglio are well known and recorded. Principally these objects are bronze statuettes or bronzes. Moreover they have a votive character attested by the general nature of the findspot where they were found, e.g. Mechel / Meclo. On the other hand the shape of the stone object reminds of the numerous bone findings made in Raetic settlements, e.g. on the Ganglegg. Concerning the bone and/or bone point findings from the Ganglegg also a ritual context is assumed. Therefore, it is imaginable that the stone object was used in the household sector due to fact that the findspot presents a Raetic settlement. But a votive character cannot be ruled out because the findspot indicates also structures which can be attributed to a ritual site and/or a burial ground (cp. MLR: 145).
In 1992 Marinetti published the findings from the Steger from 1982 for the first time whereas the inscriptions on the objects are central. In Marinetti's study is no identification number indicated. Usually the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Veneto listed the findings during an excavation with "IG + number" (cp. the other findings from the Steger excavated in 1982 in the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum). More than likey analogous to the other findings from the Steger found in 1982, Schumacher indicates the Museo Nazionale Atestino as repository (cp. Schumacher 2004: 326 [PU-11]; in consequence also Mancini relates the stone object to the Museo Nazionale Atestino, cp. LIR: 22 [SLO-10]). In consultation with the Museo Nazionale Atestino, findings from the Steger were never preserved in the museum. In 2010 several findings from the Steger found 1982, amongst the present object, were committed from the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Veneto to the Amt für Bodendenkmäler Bozen / Ufficio Beni archeologici Bolzano. These objects are now presented in the permanent exhibition of the Museum Mansio Sebatum in St. Lorenzen / San Lorenzo di Sebato (cp. in the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum: PU-8 potsherd, PU-9 potsherd, PU-10 potsherd and the present object). In the recently released study about the Raetic inscriptions by Marchesini the Museum Mansio Sebatum in St. Lorenzen / San Lorenzo di Sebato is indicated as repository (cp. MLR: 148 [MLR 135]). However, an autopsy of the object resp. the inscription was not effected. The missing inventory number and therefore the missing identification number as indicated above, were confirmed by the Amt für Bodendenkmäler Bozen / Ufficio Beni archeologici Bolzano.
So far not autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum. The indications follow the information given in literature (cp. below the bibliography) and the advices kindly provided by the Amt für Bodendenkmäler Bozen / Ufficio Beni archeologici Bolzano and the Museo Nazionale Atestino.
The dating follows Constantini 2002: 41.

S.K.

Bibliography

Constantini 2002	Raffaela Constantini, Sebatum [= Città romane 4], Roma: L'Erma di Bretschneider 2002. Atlante tematico di topografia antica; XII Supplemento
LIR	Alberto Mancini, Le Iscrizioni Retiche [= Quaderni del dipartimento di linguistica, Università degli studi di Firenze Studi 8–9], Padova: Unipress 2009–10. (2 volumes)
Marinetti 1992	Anna Marinetti, "Documenti epigrafici da St. Lorenzen (Val Pusteria, Bolzano). Epigraphische Zeugnisse aus St. Lorenzen (Pustertal, Bozen)", in: Ingrid R. Metzger, Paul Gleirscher, Die Räter / I Reti [= Schriftenreihe der Arbeitsgemeinschaft Alpenländer, Neue Folge 4], Bozen: Athesia 1992, 691–700.