BZ-5

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Inscription
Transliteration:	$ lah
Original script:
Object:	BZ-5 handle (bronze)
Position:	centre"centre" is not in the list (front, back, top, bottom, inside, outside, neck, shoulder, foot, handle, ...) of allowed values for the "position" property., outside
Script:	unknown
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	1 cm
Number of letters:	3
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	embossed
Current condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	La Tène A, La Tène B [from object]
Date of inscription:	5th–3rd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	typology [from object]
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	LIR BZ-5 MLR 274 TM 218527
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 179, 209 f.

Images

Object BZ-5 handle with inscription BZ-5.

Commentary

First published in Lunz 1985.

Pictures in Lunz 1985: 147 (photo and drawing), Schumacher 2004: Taf. 3,8 (drawing), LIR (drawing), MLR (photo).

On the flat part on the outside of the handle; length of the entire inscription 6.3 cm (0.8 cm only the letters). On the very right, an octothorpe covering the entire breadth of the handle. At a small distance to its left, a row of characters only half as high, being inscribed below the ridge which runs along the middle of the handle: A cross , after a small space , with the left and right of the vertical strokes being much fainter than the others. Immediately after this, the three letters . The entire inscription is well readable and unambiguous, but the relation of the various parts is unclear. Possibly a comparatively elaborate factory mark; see here for a discussion of possible interpretations of inscriptions with doubtful status.

Bibliography

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 1985	Reimo Lunz, "Eine neue "rätische" Inschrift aus Siebeneich", in: Assessorato alla Cultura del Comune di Bolzano (Ed.), Scavi nella conca di Bolzano e nella Bassa Atesina 1976–1985. Ausgrabungen im Raum Bozen und Unterland 1976–1985, Bolzano: 1985, 143–147.