PU-3

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Inscription
Transliteration:	?
Original script:	?
Object:	PU-3 loom weight (schist)
Position:	top, bottom, lateral
Script:	unknown
Direction of writing:	unknown
Letter height:	0.6 cm
Number of characters:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	damaged
Date of inscription:	late 6th–4th centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	LIR SLO-11 MLR sub iudice nr. 8 TM 218545
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 187

Images

Object PU-3 loom weight with inscription PU-3 - front side.

Object PU-3 loom weight with inscription PU-3 - rear side.

Inscription PU-3.

Inscription PU-3.

Commentary

First published in Dal Rì 1987: 178 (no. 732). Autopsied by TIR in November 2014.

Images in MLR (photo).

The object, whose surface is much damaged, is inscribed with numerous groups of characters, applied with differend instruments and clearly independent of each other. During autopsy we detected the following:

On the circular surface which is almost completely preserved,

• a potential letter , though with doubtful upper part, carved very slightly.
• a group in the cavity on the edge, deep and clearly readable, apparently applied after the piece of stone had broken off.

On the circular surface which is only half preserved,

• rather long and thin remains of scratches, on of them in the shape .
• right beside the breaking edge, two deeply and broadly engraved lines, possibly the remains of a letter (height 2.1 cm).

On the side,

• one asterisk , and to its right the remains of what is most probably another.
• a sequence near the upper edge.
• the remains of lines, damaged by a break, in the lower area.
• a shape .

See Non-script notational systems for a discussion of possible interpretations of inscriptions with doubtful status.

Bibliography

Dal Rì 1987	Lorenzo Dal Rì, "Influssi etrusco-italici nella regione retico-alpina", in: Raffaele De Marinis (Ed.), Gli Etruschi a nord del Po, Mantova: Regione Lombardia - Provincia e Comune di Mantova 1987, 160–179.
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)