SZ-17 handle

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Object
Classification:	vessel
Archaeological type:	Situla
Material:	bronze
Size:	lenght 23.5 cm, thickness about 0.7 cm, estimated diameter at the top about 21 cm
Condition:	complete, incomplete
Date:	5th–4th centuries BC
Date derived from:	typology
Site:	Sanzeno (Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 21' 57.60" N, 11° 4' 30.00" E [from site]
Find date:
Find circumstances:	old finding
Current location:	Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum (on exhibition)
Inventory Nr.:	13.379
Inscription:	SZ-17 (sχsi)
Sources:	PID: 17 LIR: 96 with detailed photo

Commentary

Bronze handle.
Probably the handle of a situla or a bowl (PID: 17). According to the typology the handle is part of a situla.
Patina from dark green to blackish in colour with brown patches; smoothed.
Horse's head ends, but one end broken.
In the area of the broken end an inscription. Further references more related to the inscription: Vetter 1954: 72 (No. 17); Pellegrini 1951: 316 (No. 17). However Pellegrini as well as Vetter note the characters on it as decoration.
Schumacher dates the fragment to the period from the 5th to the 4th centuries BC (cp. Schumacher 2004: 247).
According to Whatmough the handle was bought in Bolzano, but found in Sanzeno (cp. PID: 17). Mancini notes that Pellegrini as well as Vetter indicate Mechel / Meclo as find place. But Mancini misinterprets the notes of Vetter and the really confusing remarks made by Pellegrini (cp. LIR: 96). The latter indicates three objects: "frammento di manico di situla a sezione cilindrica" (No. 16), "altro manico di situla, assai bene conservato" (No. 17) - the present SZ-17 handle and "una spada di ferro" (No. 18), then he refers to No. 198 in PID and places this number to Mechel / Meclo however the No. 198 in PID is definitely related to Sanzeno. The objects related to Mechel / Meclo comprise the numbers from No. 210 to No. 213 (cp. PID: 23). However there are no more indications related to further find circumstances.
Autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum in November 2013.

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)