MA-24 ingot

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Object
Classification:	ingot
Material:	lead
Condition:	fragmentary
Date:	3rd–2nd centuries BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	Magrè (fraction of: Schio, Vicenza, Veneto, Italy)
Field name:	Castello
Archaeological context:	3rd stratum near the medieval tower (Objects: MA-1 antler, MA-2 antler, MA-3 antler, MA-4 antler, MA-5 antler, MA-7 antler, MA-8 antler, MA-9 antler, MA-11 antler, MA-13 antler, MA-14 antler, MA-15 antler, MA-16 antler, MA-17 antler, MA-18 antler, MA-19 antler, MA-20 antler, MA-21 antler, MA-23 antler, MA-24 ingot)
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 42' 21.60" N, 11° 20' 52.80" E [from site]
Find date:	1912
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	Museo Nazionale Atestino
Inventory Nr.:	none
Inscription:	MA-24 (]ś)
Sources:	Pellegrini 1918: 174, fig. 6 PID: 48, n. X LIR: 260–261 with fig.

Commentary

Fragmentary lead ingot.
On the fragment characters.
The ingot was found together with the antler points from Magrè, also in the same stratum. After the accidental finding of one antler an official governmental excavation was started. The major part of the findings was discovered at the 3rd stratum near the medieval tower on the hill (cp. Pellegrini 1918: 175).
In compliance with the fact that the major part of the antlers and the ingot were found in the same stratum, it can be supposed that the ingot dates also either to the first half of the Este culture (Este IV), therefore to the 4th century BC, like Pellegrini states (cp. Pellegrini 1918: 175–176, 206) or, according to Gambacurta, to the the 3rd–2nd centuries BC (cp. Gambacurta 2002b: 122).
Analogous to the other findings from Magrè and their current repository, in all probability the fragmentary ingot is also kept at the Museo Nazionale Atestino.
In the recently released study about the Raetic inscriptions by Marchesini the present object is listed with "MLR 49", but an autopsy was not effected and the indications are based on the earlier literature (cp. MLR: 80 [MLR 49]).
So far not autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum. The indications follow the information given in literature (cp. below the bibliography).
Note: To control: According to Mancini two pieces of lead ingots were found (cp. LIR: 260–261). Mancini supposes the connection of both fragments, but he indicates this possibility as arguable (cp. LIR: 260). Also the second piece bears a character.
Both pieces weigh together 2,650kg (cp. Pellegrini 1918: 174). Mancini gives photos and drawings of both pieces.

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.
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)