SZ-69

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Inscription
Transliteration:	?ana
Original script:
Object:	SZ-69 potsherd (pottery)
Position:	bottom, outside
Script:	unknown
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Letter height:	1.31.3 cm <br /> – 1.6 cm
Number of letters:	4
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	incised
Current condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	Roman republican period [from object]
Date of inscription:	-100 [from object]
Date derived from:	typology [from object]
Language:	Japanese"Japanese" is not in the list (Raetic, Etruscan, Venetic, Lepontic, Cisalpine Gaulish, Celtic, Latin, English, French, German, ...) of allowed values for the "language" property.
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	IR 68 LIR SA-42
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 148

Commentary

First published in IR. Autopsied by TIR in November 2013.

Pictures in IR (photo tav. LI, fig. a and drawing = LIR).

Inscription length 6.6 cm. While ana seems clear, the leftmost group of scratches is problematic. It can simply be read , with a short hasta like in the second , making those letters converging with Latin . However, there is a scratch slanting away from the top of the rightmost hasta, while a horizontal scratch turns the first angle into another . Mancini suggests an alternative reading apana. Concerning the Latinoid character of the inscription (including "closed" with hardly inclined bar), note that the object is not quite typical in Raetic context and may be an import and/or indicate a recent date for the inscription.

Bibliography

IR	Alberto Mancini, "Iscrizioni retiche", Studi Etruschi 43 (1975), 249–306.
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)