IT-2 potsherd

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Object
Classification:	bowl
Archaeological type:	Fritzener Schale
Material:	pottery
Size:	length: 6.2 cm, height: 2.8 cm, rim diameter: 17 cm, thickness: 4 mm
Condition:	fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	La Tène C, La Tène D
Site:	Volders (Tirol, Austria)
Field name:	Himmelreich
Archaeological context:	circular wall, northern section
Coordinates (approx.):	47° 17' 16.91" N, 11° 34' 43.72" E
Find date:	1954
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	Museum Wattens (on exhibition)
Inventory Nr.:	W.620
Inscription:	IT-2 (χaisurus)
Sources:	Kasseroler 1957: 102 [find No. M 620], pl. 42, 2

Images

Object IT-2 potsherd with inscription IT-2.

Object IT-2 potsherd with inscription IT-2.

Commentary

Ceramic fragment.
Fragment of a bowl type Fritzens. Fabric of burnished wheel pottery (produced on slow wheel); medium-fine clay from brown to dark brown in colour, with a moderate temper of fine grained sand and cast gold. Inside, in the area of the fracture, black in colour; reduction firing.
The above-mentioned dimensions result of the autopsy by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum.
About 2 cm under the rim four circular lines form an ornament band under them there are three vertical striae in direction to the bottom of the bowl.
Aside the striae-decoration the Raetic inscription which presents a proper noun in the genitive (cp. χaisurus). The inscription can be considered a proprietary inscription.
The potsherd was found in Himmelreich. From 1953 to 1955 the area was investigated by Dr. Alfons Kasseroler. The archaeological structures and the findings indicate a typically Raetic settlement (cp. Sinnhuber 1949; Kasseroler 1957). The ceramic fragment was found in the northern section of the circular wall, excavated in 1954 and listed by the find number M 620 (cp. Kasseroler 1957: 102).

site plan of the Himmelreich settlement given by Kasseroler (1957).

The dating as stated above is determined by the archaeological context, i.e. by the archaeological structures and further findings discovered in the Raetic settlement Himmelreich. Franz confirms a dating to La Tène C and La Téne D concerning the findings discovered by Kasseroler (cp. Franz 1958: 124). The proposed dating corresponds also with the typology of the bowls type Fritzens. In general, by comparing the different statements given by the various scholars, the Early as well as Middle La Tène period can be connected with the duration of the bowls type Fritzens (cp. Gamper 2006: 14–17).
Autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum in November 2013.

S.K.

Bibliography

Franz 1958	Leonhard Franz, "Ur- und frühgeschichtliche Funde in Nordtirol. Eine Übersicht von 1947 bis 1957", Der Schlern 32 (1958), 119–128.
Gamper 2006	Peter Gamper, Die latènezeitliche Besiedlung am Ganglegg in Südtirol. Neue Forschungen zur Fritzens-Sanzeno-Kultur [= Internationale Archäologie 91], Rahden/Westfalen: Leidorf 2006.
Kasseroler 1957	Alfons Kasseroler, Die vorgeschichtliche Niederlassung auf dem „Himmelreich“ bei Wattens [= Schlern-Schriften 166], Innsbruck: Wagner 1957.