AS-3 potsherd

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Object
Classification:	beaker
Archaeological type:	bicchiere carenato
Material:	pottery
Size:	height: 5.3 cm, width: 8.5 cm, thickness: 0.6 cm
Condition:	fragmentary
Date:	end of the 4th-3rd 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:	Museo Nazionale Atestino (repository)
Inventory Nr.:	213404
Inscription:	AS-3 (? iθθi)
Sources:	Pellegrini 1915: 120–121, pl. II.23 PID: 32 [No. 218 i]

Commentary

Fragment of a ceramic vessel.
Pellegrini notes that 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.
Based on the autopsy of the present ceramic fragment it is obvious that the present object is also a fragment of the vessel type Bicchiere carenato, however with a compact body. The fragment corresponds perfectly to the other ceramic vessels and potsherds coming from Bostel (cp. AS-15 beaker, AS-16 beaker, etc.). Clay of greyish in colour. Worked on potter's wheel.
At the area of the lower, narrow and projecting zone of the body which is situated between the upper part and the foot in orbital form, characters which can be probably considered a manufacturer's mark because this kind of characters appears repeatedly.
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]). In the recently released edition of the Raetic inscriptions Marchesini follows the indications given in PID and in Schumacher 2004. Therefore the present potsherd is listed with only one siglum: "MLR 110" with characters at four positions (cp. MLR: 135 [MLR 110]). Based on the autopsy the present ceramic fragment with the sequence of characters and in addition the caracters at a certain distance in form of four vertical lines crossed by one oblique line corresponds to Pellegrini's "frammento principale" (cp. Pellegrini 1915: 120–121). The other three positions misrelated to only one fragment by Whatmough and Schumacher (cp. PID: 32 [No. 218i b–d]; Schumacher 2004: 167 [AS-3, St2–St4]) are now arranged in the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum each with their own siglum in accord to the indications given by Pellegrini and Mancini (cp. Pellegrini 1915: 120–121; LIR: 265 [No. ROT-3], 266 [No. ROT-4], 267 [No. ROT-13], 267–268 [No. ROT-14]). However, due to fact that these ceramic fragments are currently untraceable and/or must be considered lost, they are listed with an EX-siglum (cp. for more information here):
EX-101: potsherd (= PID: [No. 218i b] = Schumacher 2004: 167 [AS-3, St 2])
EX-102: potsherd (= PID: [No. 218i c] = Schumacher 2004: 167 [AS-3, St 3])
EX-103: potsherd (= PID: [No. 218i d] = Schumacher 2004: 167 [AS-3, St 4]).
The present fragment was discovered during the excavation in the area of the Raetic settlement in Bostel 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 (cp. the map concerning the relative excavations in De Guio 2011: 169, fig. 1; in addition the map reproduced in Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 10, fig. 5).
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. Owing to the excavations in recent times this age determination can be circumscribed to the end of the 4th–3rd centuries BC (cp. De Guio 2011: 178; "La presenza di ceramica grigia (...) a partire da fine IV - pieno III sec. a. C.").
The entire material discovered in the Raetic settlement of Bostel in 1912 was preserved in the Museo di Asiago (cp. also PID: 32). Before the destruction of the museum during the war years 1915–1918 these findings were transported and securely stored in the Museo Nazionale Atestino (cp. Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 11). However, the definitive current location remained uncertain. The material could be possibly still preserved in the Museo Nazionale Atestino or it could be stored in the Soprintendenza Archeologia 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 the 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). In conclusion, due to the research by the staff of the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum and thanks to the kind support by Lorena Baroni from the Museo Nazionale Atestino the present ceramic fragment was traceable again in the Museo Nazionale Atestino. The ceramic fragment is listed with Inv. No. 213404 and kept in the repository of the Museo Nazionale Atestino. The fragment corresponds perfectly to the sherd which is reproduced in Pellegrini 1915 on pl. II.23. This figure refers to the "frammento principale" mentioned by Pellegrini (cp. Pellegrini 1915: 120–121). In addition it becomes apparent that the ceramic fragment listed by Leonardi and Ruta Serafini with No. 151 and reproduced on fig. 32.151 (cp. Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 36 [No. 151], fig. 32.151) matchs also with the present ceramic fragment. But this is surprising because the fragment No. 151 in Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981 belongs to findings made during the excavations effected 1969 in Bostel (cp. Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981: 34 et seq.). However, the present ceramic fragment comes definitely from the excavations 1912 as clarified by an old label with the information "Rotzo Bostel 1912" on the sherd. Therefore it can be assumed that there must be an erroneous attribution in Leonardi & Ruta Serafini 1981. Furthermore there are other findings, however non-inscribed, from the excavation 1912 in the Museo Nazionale Atestino. In alignment with Pellegrini 1915 the Museo Nazionale Atestino keeps the following objects: Pellegrini 1915: pl. II.2 = Inv. No. 213374; Pellegrini 1915: pl. II.5 = Inv. No. 213376; Pellegrini 1915: pl. II.7 = Inv. No. 213346; Pellegrini 1915: pl. II.21 = Inv. No. 213378. All these objects are stored in repository.
Autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum in October 2014.

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)