SZ-39 axe

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Object
Classification:	axe
Archaeological type:	winged axe
Material:	iron
Size:	length: 15 cm, width: 9.4 cm, height: 4.6 cm
Condition:	restored
Date:	5th–1st centuries BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	Sanzeno (Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)
Field name:	Casalini
Archaeological context:	settlement, section G
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 21' 57.60" N, 11° 4' 30.00" E [from site]
Find date:	1950–1951
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	Museo Retico Sanzeno (on exhibition)
Inventory Nr.:	8100
Inscriptions:	SZ-39.1 ($upi) SZ-39.2 (upi)
Sources:	Fogolari 1960: 276 (No. 99), pl. V, 13–14 Nothdurfter 1979: 102, 120 (No. 180), fig. 23, pl. 11

Images

Object SZ-39 axe with inscription SZ-39.1.

Commentary

Winged axe.
Axe with lateral wings on both sides; short and compact. Corrosion traces all-over. On one side, at half height of the wing an eye. Dimensions: length 16.1 cm, width at blade 10.3 cm (cp. Nothdurfter 1979: 120), length 16.2 cm, width at blade 10.5 cm (cp. Fogolari 1960: 276).
Ghislanzoni indicates this axe type as characteristic of the upper Non Valley, especially of Sanzeno (cp. Ghislanzoni 1931: 439).
On the edge characters.
The axe was found in Sanzeno during the offical excavation from 1950 to 1951. The object was discovered with other findings in section G of the settlement. Section G was only partially investigated during the excavation from 1950–1951. The excavation in this section was continued in 1955 (cp. Fogolari 1960: 271). The map and the here used number 99 indicates the exact find spot of the axe (cp. for the map: Fogolari 1960: pl. A; for the excavation in Sanzeno from 1950 to 1951 cp. Fogolari 1960: 268–277).
The entire material discovered in Sanzeno dates to the late Iron age period, i.e. from the 5th century BC to the Roman period (cp. Fogolari 1960: 269). Therefore the axe must also date to this timeframe.
The winged axe presents one of the objects which belong to the museum stock of the Castello del Buonconsiglio but which were exposed in the new Raetic museum in Sanzeno. Nothdurfter indicates the inventory number 8100/A 1113. This number is not incorrect because it based on the precedent number of the Museo Nazionale, a formerly name of the museum stock of the Castello del Buonconsiglio. The official inventory number, however, is 8100.
Autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum in October 2014.

S.K.

Bibliography

Fogolari 1960	Giulia Fogolari, "Sanzeno nell'Anaunia", in: Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Province di Romagna (Eds), Civiltà del Ferro. Studi pubblicati nella ricorrenza centenaria della scoperta di Villanova [= Documenti e studi VI], Bologna: Forni 1960, 265–321.
Ghislanzoni 1931	Ettore Ghislanzoni, "Sanzeno nell'Anaunia. Scavi di abitazioni preromane", Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità , Vol. VII (1931), 409–471.