SZ-66 axe

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Object
Classification:	axe
Archaeological type:	mortise axe
Material:	iron
Size:	length: 17 cm, width: 3.9 cm, height: 6.7 cm
Condition:	unknown
Date:	5th–1st centuries BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	Sanzeno (Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy)
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 21' 57.60" N, 11° 4' 30.00" E [from site]
Find date:	1953
Find circumstances:	excavation
Current location:	Castello del Buonconsiglio (repository)
Inventory Nr.:	8177/A 1124
Inscription:	SZ-66 (?)
Sources:	Nothdurfter 1979: 121 (No. 192), pl. 12

Images

Object SZ-66 axe with inscription SZ-66.

Object SZ-66 axe.

Commentary

Mortise axe with narrow blade.
Probably identical to Fogolari 1960: 283 (No. 87). According to Fogolari 1960 find date: 1953 (settlement, section H, stratum III; cp. with the map in Fogolari 1960: pl. A). Second possibility: Probably identical to Fogolari 1960: 289 (No. 21). According to Fogolari 1960 find date: 1955 (settlement, section G; cp. with the map in Fogolari 1960: pl. A). According to Mancini find date: 1953 (cp. IR: 282–283 (No. 65)).
Along characters; according to Fogolari 1960: 283: "porta segni incisi su di un fianco"; second possibility: according to Fogolari 1960: 289: the tre characters: UPI ("sui due bordi in alto sono incise tre lettere da destra a sinistra: UPI"). There were discovered other three axes with the same three characters (cp. Fogolari 1960: 289–290 (No. 22, No. 10, No. 28). According to Schumacher probably non-script (cp. Schumacher 2004: 147).
Dimensions: According to Nothdurfter: length 16.9 cm, width at blade 7 cm (cp. Nothdurfter 1979: 121 (No. 192); according to Fogolari: length 16 cm, width at blade 12 cm (cp. Fogolari 1960: 289); according to Mancini: length 16.8 cm, width at blade 6.7 cm (cp. IR: 282).
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.
So far not autopsied by the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Raeticarum. The indications follow the information given in literature (cp. below the bibliography).

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.
IR	Alberto Mancini, "Iscrizioni retiche", Studi Etruschi 43 (1975), 249–306.