MA-12 antler

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Object
Classification:	unidentifiable
Material:	antler
Size:	length 6 cm
Condition:	fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	Este IV
Date:	3rd–2nd centuries BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	Magrè (fraction of: Schio, Vicenza, Veneto, Italy)
Field name:	Castello
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 42' 21.60" N, 11° 20' 52.80" E [from site]
Find date:	1912
Find circumstances:	stray find
Current location:	unknown
Inscription:	MA-12 (estualeaφiṛ·[)
Sources:	Pellegrini 1918: 180 (No. 4), fig. 11 Nothdurfter 2002: 1149 (list 3, No. 5)

Commentary

Fragment of an antler point.
The narrow end is missing therefore a part of the inscription is also absent.
Compared to the other antlers of Magrè the present object represents one of the first finds made accidentally by Giovanni Piccoli, a carpenter from Schio, the 10th November, 1912. In consequence of this discovery an official excavation realized by the monument protection service was arranged from where the other pieces of antlers come.
According to Pellegrini the whole antler group from Magrè dates to the Este culture - Este IV - and due to the archaic appearance of the characters the antlers date to the first half of this period, therefore to the 4th century BC (cp. Pellegrini 1918: 175–176, 206). Gambacurta however dates the entire group to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC (cp. Gambacurta 2002b: 122 and in consequence Gambacurta et al. 2002: 188).
Because of the character of the find place which can definitely interpreted as ritual place, the entire antler group from Magrè has also a votive importance. Analogous to the other antler points from Magrè and their current repository, in all probability the current location of the fragment is also the Museo Nazionale Atestino.
So far not autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum. The indications follow the information given in literature (cp. below the bibliography).
S.K.

Bibliography

Gambacurta 2002b	Giovanna Gambacurta, "Manufatti iscritti in osso o corno", in: Giovanna Gambacurta, Daniela Locatelli, Luigi Malnati, Patrizia Manessi, Anna Marinetti, Giovanna Luisa Ravagnan (Eds), Akeo. I tempi della scrittura. Veneti antichi: alfabeti e documenti, 121–126.
Gambacurta et al. 2002	Giovanna Gambacurta, Daniela Locatelli, Luigi Malnati, Patrizia Manessi, Anna Marinetti, Giovanna Luisa Ravagnan (Eds), "Catalogo. Veneti antichi. Alfabeti e documenti", in: Giovanna Gambacurta, Daniela Locatelli, Luigi Malnati, Patrizia Manessi, Anna Marinetti, Giovanna Luisa Ravagnan (Eds), Akeo. I tempi della scrittura. Veneti antichi: alfabeti e documenti, 157–275.