AS-3

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Inscription
Transliteration: ? iθθi
Original script: I sΘ sΘ sI s

Object: AS-3 potsherd (pottery)
Position: bottom
Script: unknown
Direction of writing: ambiguous
Letter height: 2 cm
Number of characters: 4
Number of lines: 1
Craftsmanship: incised
Current condition: damaged
Date of inscription: end of the 4th-3rd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from: archaeological context [from object]

Type: prob. mark of manufacturer
Language: unknown
Meaning: unknown

Alternative sigla: PID 218 (i a)
LIR ROT-3
MLR 110 (1)
TM 218500
Sources: Schumacher 2004: 167

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini 1915: 120 f. Autopsied by TIR on 16th October 2015.

Image in Pellegrini 1915: tav. II, 23 (drawing).

Incised on the narrow bottom of the vessel. The characters are well legible, covering the entire breadth of the bottom; the sequence extends over 3.5 cm. To its left (assuming that the marks should be viewed with the vessel upside-down, as is the case with most of the corresponding inscriptions from Bostel), at a distance of about 1 cm, four vertical lines crossed by one oblique line. While this second mark so far has no parallel in Bostel, the sequence I sΘ sΘ sI s is also found on AS-15, in combination with a language-encoding inscription. Cp. also AS-2. In view of its reoccurrence in the same find place, the group can be interpreted as a manufacturer's mark.

Note that in Schumacher 2004, the ceramic fragment with inscription AS-3 is said to bear characters in four separate places – a misunderstanding of Whatmough's truncated presentation of the testimonies. The other three fragments mentioned by Pellegrini (p. 121):
PID (i) b = LIR ROT-4 = EX-101 Θ sΘ sI s
PID (i) c = LIR ROT-13 = EX-102 Θ sΘ s
PID (i) d = LIR ROT-14 = EX-103 Θ s
are likely to represent partially damaged examples of the same sequence I sΘ sΘ sI s.

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)