BZ-17

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Inscription
Transliteration:	?
Original script:
Object:	BZ-17 axe (bronze)
Position:	side"side" is not in the list (front, back, top, bottom, inside, outside, neck, shoulder, foot, handle, ...) of allowed values for the "position" property.
Script:	none
Direction of writing:	ambiguous
Letter height:	1.11.1 cm <br /> – 1.51.5 cm <br />
Number of characters:	3
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	embossed
Current condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	Hallstatt B [from object]
Date of inscription:	7th–beginning of the 6th centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	typology [from object]
Language:	none
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	PID 196 ter (b) LIR BZ-1 MLR 19
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 182 f.

Images

Object BZ-17 axe with inscription BZ-17.

Inscription BZ-17.

Commentary

First published in Orsi 1882: 15–16 (n. 8), fig. 1.8. Autopsied by TIR in October 2014.

Images in Lunz 1974: Taf. 6,6 (drawing), LIR (drawings), MLR (photo).

Of the axes found in the hoard, published by Orsi, Whatmough mentioned five bearing characters (see Addendum p. 628); only one of those was judged to be a potential inscription by Schumacher. However, as the latter himself remarks, given context and dating, BZ-17 is highly unlikely to be a Raetic inscription, but belongs with the assortment of characters often found on bronze axes from the Hallstatt era – see the corresponding section on Non-script notational systems.

On the other side, a symbol "a caporale" .

Further references: Battisti 1944: 228.

Bibliography

Battisti 1944	Carlo Battisti, "Osservazioni sulla lingua delle iscrizioni nell'alfabeto etrusco settentrionale di Bolzano", Studi Etruschi 18 (1944), 199–236.
Carancini 1984	Gian Luigi Carancini, Le asce nell'Italia continentale II [= Prähistorische Bronzefunde Abt. IX 12], München: 1984.
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)
Lunz 1974	Reimo Lunz, Studien zur End-Bronzezeit und älteren Eisenzeit im Südalpenraum, Firenze: Sansoni 1974.