VN-16
| Inscription | |
|---|---|
| Transliteration: | ?aris |
| Original script: |     ?
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| |
| Object: | VN-16 bone point (bone) |
| Position: | |
| Orientation: | 0° |
| Script: | North Italic script |
| Direction of writing: | sinistroverse |
| Letter height: | 0.90.9 cm <br /> – 1.3 cm |
| Number of letters: | 5 – 6 |
| Number of lines: | 1 |
| Craftsmanship: | engraved |
| Current condition: | damaged |
| Date of inscription: | last decade of the 2nd–1st centuries BC [from object] |
| Date derived from: | archaeological context, natural science [from object] |
|
| |
| Language: | Raetic |
| Meaning: | unknown |
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| |
| Alternative sigla: | none |
Images
 Object VN-16 bone point with inscription VN-16.
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 Object VN-16 bone point with inscription VN-16.
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 Inscription VN-16 - front side.
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 Inscription VN-16 - rear side.
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Commentary
Unpublished.
Inscribed on the tapered part of a bone point, running from the drilled hole towards the tip. Length 3 cm. The scratches appearing black on the light bone surface, legibility is impeded by black marks and blots, but is unambiguous. is a little shorter than the other letters, has a very short lower bar. In the right, more heavily scorched area, a group of scratches seems to make up a variant of Heta with four bars, which is not attested elsewhere in Raetic context. Cp. VN-8 with possibly a name in the genitive χaris (and a similar execution of ), but note that while the status of Heta/h in Raetic is not quite clear, Chi is assumed to write a velar media rather than a fricative, wherefore Heta would not be an expectable orthographic variant. Another possibile reading is 
etaris with one of Theta's lines rather straight.
On the reverse side, a neat sequence (height 1.2 cm, length 2.6 cm) must be interpreted as decoration.
