AS-3 potsherd

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Object
Classification:	vessel
Archaeological type:	coppa con corpo a calotta tipo 1a or coppa con corpo emisferico tipo 1b
Material:	pottery
Condition:	fragmentary
Date:	4th–2nd centuries BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	Rotzo (Vicenza, Veneto, Italy)
Field name:	Bostel
Archaeological context:	settlement (Objects: AS-1 potsherd, AS-2 potsherd, AS-3 potsherd, AS-4 potsherd, AS-12 needle, AS-15 beaker, AS-16 beaker, AS-17 potsherd, AS-18 potsherd, AS-19 beaker, AS-20 potsherd, AS-21 beaker, AS-22 beaker, AS-23 beaker)
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 51' 43.20" N, 11° 23' 49.20" E [from site]
Find date:	1912
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	unknown (currently untraceable)
Inscription:	AS-3 (? iθθi)
Sources:	Pellegrini 1915: 120–121, pl. II.23 PID: 32 (No. 218 i)

Commentary

Fragment of a ceramic vessel.
According to Pellegrini the fragment comes from a kind of cup which he describes in the following way: "Bicchiere ad orlo aggettante, ventre espanso verso il piede, d'argilla per lo più cinerea depuratissima, a volte però anche rossiccia, lavorato al tornio (...)". He adds that this kind of cup is the common ceramic type of Bostel (cp. Pellegrini 1915: 120). On the archaeological drawing on pl. II.6 Pellegrini represents a perfect example for this ceramic type. By comparing this drawing with the indications given by Leonardi and Ruta Serafini related to the common ceramic type in Bostel and the appearance of inscribed fragments as well as the fig. 36.2, it can be stated as result that only by comparing the photos and drawings the ceramic type must be Tipo 4b - Bicchiere carenato a corpo tozzo. Contrary to this result however is the fact that related to this ceramic type only one, but complete extant exemplar was discovered during the excavation of 1912 and it is not one of the common pottery of Bostel. Due to the indications related to common ceramic type and the frequency of characters on the fragments as well as the fragmentary condition of the object it can be assumed that the fragment either derives from a coppa con corpo a calotta tipo 1a or a coppa con corpo emisferico tipo 1b or that the ceramic type is not determinable (cp. the same questionability with: AS-4 potsherd, AS-5 potsherd, AS-6 potsherd and AS-7 potsherd).
On the fragment characters. According to Whatmough Schumacher indicates a single fragment bearing characters at four positions (cp. PID: 32 (No. 218i a–d); Schumacher 2004: 167 (AS-3 St1–St4)). In fact Pellegrini mentions four separate fragments: On page 120 Pellegrini describes "il frammento principale", while on page 121 he writes, "Gli stessi segni si ripetono (...) in altri frammenti di vasi identici, in uno dei quali abbiamo . XXI, in un altro . XX, in un terzo . X" (cp. Pellegrini 1915: 120–121; accentuation in bold by the author S.K.). Mancini follows the indications given by Pellegrini in the correct way and integrates four inscribed objects in his corpus (cp. LIR: 265 (No. ROT-3), 266 (No. ROT-4), 267 (No. ROT-13), 267–268 (No. ROT-14)).
The fragment was discovered during the excavation in the area of the Raetic settlement in 1912 executed by Alfonso Alfonsi, the superintendent of the Museo Nazionale Atestino at this time and associated with the Reale Soprintendenza per i Musei e gli scavi di Antichità del Veneto conducted by Giuseppe Pellegrini during this period. The entire material discovered in the Raetic settlement of Bostel in 1912 was preserved in the Museo di Asiago. Before the destruction of the museum during the war years 1915–1918 these findings were transported and securely stored in the Museo Nazionale Atestino. However, the current location is uncertain. The material could be possibly still preserved in the Museo Nazionale Atestino or it could be stored in the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Veneto. Also possible is a storage in the newly founded museum, the Museo Archeologico dell'Alto Vicentino in Santorso. But obviously the material was traceable until 1981 because of the fact that the entire material from the excavation 1912 was documented on archaeological drawings and photos in the published work of Leonardi and Ruta Serafini (cp. Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 16–34, fig. 16–31). However, in a new edition of the Raetic inscriptions by Marchesini the present potsherd is indicated as "dipersa" like also the entire material from Bostel excavated in 1912 (cp. for the present potsherd: MLR: 135 (MLR 110); cp. for the entire material from Bostel: MLR: 127–137).
According to Leonardi and Ruta Serafini the analysis of the excavations and the material yields the following timeframe: related to the entire material and the residential structure discovered during the excavations of 1912 and 1969 only few facts date to the III periodo atestino. The major part dates to the 4th–2nd centuries BC (cp. Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 66). Therefore, related to the potsherd, a dating to the 4th–2nd centuries BC -analogous to the other findings from Bostel- is to be favoured.
So far not autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum. The indications follow the information given in literature (cp. below the bibliography).

S.K.

Bibliography

De Guio 2011	Armando De Guio (Ed.), "Bostel di Rotzo (VI) - stato di avanzamento delle ricerche", Quaderni di Archeologia del Veneto (QdAV) XXVII (2011), 168–183.
Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981	Giovanni Leonardi, Angela Ruta Serafini, "L'abitato protostorico di Rotzo (Altipiano di Asiago)", Preistoria Alpina 17 (1981), 7–75.
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)