SR-4 antler

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Object
Classification:	unidentifiable
Material:	antler
Size:	length 6.5 cm, width min. 2.1 cm, width max. 2.4 cm, thickness 0.2 cm+
Condition:	fragmentary
Date:	3rd century BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	Serso (fraction of: Pergine Valsugana, Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)
Field name:	Montesei di Serso
Archaeological context:	house No. 2 (Objects: SR-1 antler, SR-2 antler, SR-3 antler, SR-4 antler, SR-5 antler, SR-6 antler, SR-7 antler, SR-8 antler, SR-9 antler, SR-10 antler, SR-11 stone, SR-12 antler, SR-13 antler, SR-14 potsherd, SR-15 bowl)
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 4' 28.16" N, 11° 14' 39.44" E
Find date:	1964
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali
Inscription:	SR-4 (θul·te?·s[?/$ teris·ṇ[)
Sources:	Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965: 3–8, 11–12 (No. 4), fig. 6 and 7 Nothdurfter 2002: 1150 (list 3, No. 7)

Images

Object SR-4 antler with inscription SR-4.

Object SR-4 antler with inscription SR-4 - line 1.

Object SR-4 antler with inscription SR-4 - line 2.

Commentary

Fragment of an antler point; little curved and on one side perforated. The upper side is polished, the bottom side holed.
On exterior an inscription in two lines, from right to left.
Dal Rì dates the whole antler group from Montesei di Serso to the 3rd century BC (Dal Rì 1987: 176 (No. 725), whereas Schumacher suggets an older date to the 5th–4th centuries BC (Schumacher 2004: 247) and Pellegrini as well as Sebesta date the house No. 2 of Montesei di Serso, where the antlers were found, generally to the late Iron Age due to the typical house construction (Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965: 7).

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.