BZ-22 potsherd

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Object
Classification:	bowl
Material:	pottery
Size:	length: 4.6 cm, height: 3.3 cm, thickness: 4 mm
Condition:	fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	La Tène A
Date:	middle of the 5th–4th centuries BC
Date derived from:	typology, archaeological context
Site:	Tisens / Tesimo (Bozen / Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)
Field name:	St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito
Archaeological context:	settlement of the Late Iron Age (Objects: BZ-20 potsherd, BZ-21 potsherd, BZ-22 potsherd)
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 34' 49.91" N, 11° 9' 41.44" E
Find date:	end of the 19th–beginning of the 20th centuries
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum (repository)
Inventory Nr.:	15.550
Inscription:	BZ-22 (?]θ[)
Sources:	Kaltenhauser 1966: 143 [No. 310], pl. 37.6

Commentary

Small ceramic fragment of a bowl.
As compared to the two other ceramic fragments from St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito, BZ-20 potsherd and BZ-21 potsherd, probably the body sherd comes also from a small bowl with a compressed body. Slightly curved; fine clay of grey in colour with a moderate temper of very fine calcareous grains and quartz particles; smooth coat of brown in colour, inside as well as outside; reduced firing. Although the sherd is too fragmentary to determine the exact bowl type, the production of the present potsherd related to clay, coating etc. however is comparable to BZ-20 potsherd as well as BZ-21 potsherd.
The above-mentioned dimensions result of the autopsy by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum. Kaltenhauser indicates a thickness of 0.3 cm (cp. Kaltenhauser 1966: 143).
No further decorations visible.
On the sherd a single, clearly legible character. Next to the character another scratched stroke which is not so deep. In contrast to BZ-20 and BZ-21, the character is scratched after firing. Kaltenhauser supposes on one side a kind of decoration, otherwise he also suggests that the character and the other stroke represent the letters t and i whereat he identifies "ein liegendes Kreuz und einen stehenden Balken" (cp. Kaltenhauser 1966: 143).
The present potsherd comes from the settlement of the Late Iron Age situated on the hill of St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito. The settlement was situated on the lynchet to the south of the principal hilltop, in contrast to the station of the Neolithic and Bronze Age which was discovered on the central hilltop of St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito. The discoveries trace back to Fridolin Plant who found the antique remains in 1891. Franz Tappeiner described the findspot as well as situation 1892 for the first time. The excavations were continued by Alois and Oswald Menghin from 1904 to 1909.
As above mentioned the ceramic fragment is too small to determine an exact bowl type. Therefore an attribution into the typology is not possibile. Related to the archaeological context of the present fragment some other findings from St. Hippolyt / Sant'Ippolito argue for a dating to La Tène A, e.g. ceramic fragments of compressed bowls with S-shaped profile and with the decoration shape typical for this period (cp. i.a. Lunz 1974: 411 [No. 73.13], pl. 73.13) or potsherds of bowls type Fritzens with radial eye-pattern (cp. i.a. Lunz 1974: 412 [No. 73.18], pl. 73.18). Moreover few bronze objects confirm this dating i.a. two fragmentary fibulae type Certosa (cp. Lunz 1974: 195–196).
In the recently released study about the Raetic inscriptions by Marchesini the sherd is listed with "MLR 279", an autopsy was effected (cp. MLR: 246 [MLR 279]).
Autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum in July 2014.

S.K.

Bibliography

Kaltenhauser 1966	Gerard Kaltenhauser, Die vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Altertümer von St. Hippolyt bei Tisens, Innsbruck: 1966. (2 volumes: text volume and volume of plates; unpublished doctoral research study)
Lunz 1974	Reimo Lunz, Studien zur End-Bronzezeit und älteren Eisenzeit im Südalpenraum, Firenze: Sansoni 1974.