BZ-21 potsherd

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Object
Classification:	bowl
Archaeological type:	bowl with compressed body
Material:	pottery
Size:	height: 5.6 cm, rim diameter: 7.6 cm, maximum diameter: 8.4 cm, thickness: 3 mm
Condition:	fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	La Tène A
Date:	middle of the 5th–1st half of the 4th centuries BC
Date derived from:	typology, archaeological context
Site:	Tisens / Tesimo (Bozen / Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)
Field name:	St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito
Archaeological context:	settlement of the Late Iron Age (Objects: BZ-20 potsherd, BZ-21 potsherd, BZ-22 potsherd)
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 34' 49.91" N, 11° 9' 41.44" E
Find date:	end of the 19th–beginning of the 20th centuries
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum (repository)
Inventory Nr.:	1.298
Inscription:	BZ-21 (ịị?(?)ị[)
Sources:	Kaltenhauser 1966: 142 [No. 308], pl. 37.4

Commentary

Ceramic fragment of a bowl.
Small bowl with a compressed body and S-shaped profile. Strongly domed belly, curved funnel-shaped rim. Kaltenhauser supposes an omphalos like the drawing prompts (cp. Kaltenhauser 1966: pl. 37.4). Fine clay of grey in colour with a moderate temper of very fine calcareous grains and quartz particles; smooth coat of brown in colour, inside as well as outside; reduced firing. The production of the present potsherd related to clay, coating etc. is comparable to BZ-20 potsherd as well as BZ-22 potsherd however the latter is too fragmentary to determine the bowl type.
The above-mentioned dimensions result of the autopsy by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum. Kaltenhauser indicates 8 cm related to the mouth diameter (cp. Kaltenhauser 1966: 143).
No further decorations visible.
On the bottom remains of characters. As valid for the characters on BZ-20 potsherd they can not interpreted as decoration. Probably these characters represent trademarks. Franz arranged a list of comparable "inscriptions" on objects preserved at the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum and stated a connection with the Venetic divinity Reitia (cp. Franz 1959: 229, below C. Von St. Hippolyt bei Lana No. 2). Characters incised before firing.
The present potsherd comes from the settlement of the Late Iron Age situated on the hill of St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito. The settlement was situated on the lynchet to the south of the principal hilltop, in contrast to the station of the Neolithic and Bronze Age which was discovered on the central hilltop of St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito. The discoveries trace back to Fridolin Plant who found the antique remains in 1891. Franz Tappeiner described the findspot as well as situation 1892 for the first time. The excavations were continued by Alois and Oswald Menghin from 1904 to 1909.
The ceramic fragment and the reconstructed bowl does not fit completely into the typology. Probably it is a variant type of the Fritzens-Sanzeno pottery and of the bowls with S-shaped profile. Related to the archaeological context of the present potsherd some other findings from St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito argue also for a dating to La Tène A, e.g. ceramic fragments of compressed bowls with S-shaped profile and with the decoration shape typical for this period (cp. i.a. Lunz 1974: 411 (No. 73.13), pl. 73.13) or potsherds of bowls type Fritzens with radial eye-pattern (cp. i.a. Lunz 1974: 412 (No. 73.18), pl. 73.18). Moreover few bronze objects confirm this dating i.a. two fragmentary fibulae type Certosa (cp. Lunz 1974: 195–196).
In the recently released study about the Raetic inscriptions by Marchesini the sherd is listed with "Sub iudice n. 18", i.e. among the inscriptions and/or characters with a doubtful character; an autopsy was effected (cp. MLR: 290 [Sub iudice n. 18]).
Autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum in November 2013.

S.K.

Bibliography

Franz 1959	Leonhard Franz, "Rätische Inschriften im Innsbrucker Landesmuseum", Der Schlern 33 (1959), 228–229.
Kaltenhauser 1966	Gerard Kaltenhauser, Die vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Altertümer von St. Hippolyt bei Tisens, Innsbruck: 1966. (2 volumes: text volume and volume of plates; unpublished doctoral research study)
Lunz 1974	Reimo Lunz, Studien zur End-Bronzezeit und älteren Eisenzeit im Südalpenraum, Firenze: Sansoni 1974.