CO·48 Prestino

edit with form

Object
Classification:	slab
Material:	stone
Size:	length 375 cm, width 33 cm, height 18 cm
Condition:	complete, damaged
Archaeological culture:	Golasecca III A 1
Date:	second quarter of the 5th c. BC
Date derived from:	archaeological context
Site:	Prestino (fraction of: Como, Como, Lombardia, Italy)
Field name:	Fondo Giulini
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 48' 5.16" N, 9° 3' 9.81" E
Find date:	1966
Find circumstances:	construction work
Current location:	Museo Archeologico ‟Paolo Giovio” (Como)
Inventory no.:	8777
Inscription:	CO·48 (uvamokozis:plialeθu:uvltiauiopos:ariuonepos:siteś:tetu)
Alternative sigla:	Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 23 Solinas 1995: 65 Motta 2000: 2 Morandi 2004: 180
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 638–640

Images

Slab CO·48 Prestino with inscription CO·48 from Lejeune 1971

Slab CO·48 Prestino from Morandi 2004

Slab CO·48 Prestino with inscription CO·48 from Tibiletti Bruno 1966b

Commentary

Images in Mirabella Roberti 1966: 115 (photo in situ), Tibiletti Bruno 1966b: 289, fig. 1 (partial photo in situ), Morandi 1982: tav. XLI.1 (photo on display), Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 79, fig. 1 (photo in situ), 84, fig. 2 and 3 (photos in situ, the second only of the anepigraphic slab), Morandi 2004: 801, tav. XXIV.180a (photo of the upper side of the slab on display).

Long, roughly rectangular slab of friable local sandstone, often called a "parallelepiped", "gradino" or "trave" in the literature, with smoothed sides; the indicated dimensions vary somewhat in different publications (378 × 33 × 19 cm in Mirabella Roberti & Rittatore Vonwiller 1966: 407, length 375 in Mirabella Roberti 1966: 114, width 31 (right)–35 (left) cm and height 15 (right)–19 (left) cm in Tibiletti Bruno 1966b: 282, 385 × 42 (max.) × 19 (max.) cm in Motta 2000: 197, 375 × 33 (mean) × 18 (mean) cm in Morandi 2004: 638). The slab is complete and only significantly damaged in the upper left corner, which was knocked off by a shovel excavator during the discovery. Morandi 2004: 638 reports modern graffiti on the inscribed side (also dating from the excavation? but not visible in the photos).

The slab was found in early April 1966 in the find spot called fondo Giulini – a site of pre-Roman Como – during the construction of the motorway by a worker who unearthed only the left end. During the following weekend, the inscription was detected by two boys, who had uncovered part of the slab by the time their parents had alerted a local newspaper, whose chief editor in turn notified the Società Archeologica Comense. More, similar slabs were unearthed – one beside the inscribed one (287 x 42 x 18 cm and lying 13 cm higher according to Mirabella Roberti 1966: 114, also tapering toward the right according to Tibiletti Bruno 1966b: 283), and two more behind them (80 cm distant and 30 cm higher according to Mirabella Roberti 1966: 114) – before the Soprintendenza could organise a salvage excavation which brought further structures to light (see Fondo Giulini). See Mirabella Roberti & Rittatore Vonwiller 1966, Mirabella Roberti 1966, Tibiletti Bruno 1966b: 279–282, Luraschi et al. 1969: 221–223, no. 28, Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 78, 85, and De Marinis & Motta 1991: 211 f., n. 16.

The function of the construction in general (see Fondo Giulini) and of the slabs in particular – steps? plinths? foundations? architraves? standing stones? – remains unclear, see e.g. Mirabella Roberti & Rittatore Vonwiller 1966: 407, Mirabella Roberti 1966: 114, Tibiletti Bruno 1966b: 284 f., Prosdocimi 1967: 200, Ferri 1967, Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 141, and Markey & Mees 2003: 120–122, who assume that the slab was a boundary marker "apparently dry-mounted on a low exterior wall", doubting that it was part of the structure itself. Cf. the similar slab CO·21 Rondineto, unfortunately fragmentary and without archaeological context.

The slab and its inscription were originally dated palaeographically to ca. the 2^nd century BC by Tibiletti Bruno 1966b: 300. After De Marinis 1986: 74 f., no. 1 (also De Marinis 1986c: 33, and more elaborately via Prosdocimi 1987: 569) had argued for a dating of the document to the 5^th century BC with reference to the Golaseccan ceramics (thus already Mirabella Roberti 1966: 115) and the overall dating of most finds from the area of pre-Roman Como, Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 78, 85 reaffirmed her low dating by comparing Roman architectural structures, pointing out that the slabs were found at little depth, and doubting the relevance of the ceramic finds, which she claimed to come from a deeper stratum. In a reply in De Marinis & Motta 1991: 211 f., n. 16, De Marinis stressed the cohesiveness of the site and the relevance of the ceramics; the high dating is now generally accepted (e.g. Gambari & Colonna 1988: 132), also from a palaeographical perspective (see the inscription page). Later literature indicates particularly high datings, viz. to Golasecca III A1/second quarter of 5^th c. in Motta 2000: 197, Casini et al. 2001: 109, and Markey & Mees 2003: 116, early 5^th c. in Solinas, even late 6^th–early 5^th c. in Morandi after De Marinis in Società Archeologica Comense 1986b: 113–120 passim.

The slab was brought to the Como museum in May 1966, where it has been on exhibition since 1969 (Tibiletti Bruno 1969b: 233).

Bibliography

Casini et al. 2001	Stefania Casini, Raffaele C. De Marinis, Marta Rapi, "L'abitato protostorico dei dintorni di Como", in: Various authors, La protostoria in Lombardia. Atti del 3o convegno archeologico regionale, Como – Villa Olmo 22–23–24 ottobre 1999, Como: 2001, 97–140.
De Marinis & Motta 1991	Raffaele C. De Marinis, Filippo Motta, "Una nuova iscrizione lepontica su pietra da Mezzovico (Lugano)", Sibrium 21 (1990–1991), 201–225.
De Marinis 1986	Raffaele De Marinis, "Lingua e alfabeto", in: Various authors, Como fra Etruschi e Celti, Como: Società Archeologica Comense 1986. (Catalogo della mostra), 73–76.
De Marinis 1986c	Raffaele De Marinis, "L'abitato protostorico di Como", in: Various authors, Como fra Etruschi e Celti, Como: Società Archeologica Comense 1986. (Catalogo della mostra), 25–38.
Ferri 1967	Silvio Ferri, "Esigenze archeologiche - VIII", Studi Classici e Orientali 16 (1967), 417–435.
Gambari & Colonna 1988	Filippo Maria Gambari, Giovanni Colonna, "Il bicchiere con iscrizione arcaica da Castelletto Ticino e l'adozione della scrittura nell'Italia nord-occidentale", Studi Etruschi 54 (1986 [1988]), 119–164.