VA·32 Golasecca

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Object
Classification:	pitcher
Material:	pottery
Size:	height 7.7 cm, mouth diam. 6.8 cm, foot diam. 3.3 cm
Condition:	damaged
Autopsy by:	Corinna Salomon
Date of autopsy:	Apr 27 2022
Archaeological culture:	Golasecca II B
Date:	late 6th–early 5th c. BC
Date derived from:	typology
Site:	Golasecca (Varese, Lombardia, Italy)
Field name:	Galliasco
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 42' 24.73" N, 8° 39' 52.36" E
Find date:	before 1876
Find circumstances:	excavation
Finder:	Pompeo Castelfranco
Current location:	Civico Museo Archeologico (Milano)
Inventory no.:	A 0.9.28460
Inscription:	VA·32 (???)
Alternative sigla:	Solinas 1995: 114 Morandi 2004: 75
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 571 no. 75

Images

Beaker Coll. Castelfranco 217 with mark	Beaker Coll. Castelfranco 221 with mark	Beaker Coll. Castelfranco 222	Beakers with marks from the Castelfranco Collection	Marks on the feet of beakers in the Castelfranco Collection
Pitcher VA·32 Golasecca	Pitcher VA·32 Golasecca	Mark on the foot of the pitcher VA·32 Golasecca

Commentary

Small pitcher with stralucido glaze; the handle is broken off. The object was excavated by Castelfranco (Castelfranco 1876: 99) and is part of his collection in the Museo Archeologico Milano (no. 219). Gambari & Colonna 1988: 160, no. 1 give Castelletto sopra Ticino as find place, but the museum's records name the Galliasco, one of the sites of the Golasecca necropolis – this is doubtlessly correct, as Castelfranco's publication is about finds from the necropolis, where he excavated many similar objects with similar marks (Coll. Castelfranco 215–218, 220–222 = A 0.9.28453 (Golasecca necropolis), A 0.9.28482 (Galliasco), A 0.9.28484 (Galliasco), A 0.9.28481 (Presualdo), A 0.9.28457 (Monsorino), A 0.9.28447 (Monsorino), A 0.9.28455 (Monsorino); see the photos above and the inscription page). Cf. also VA·5 Golasecca, VA·4 Sesto Calende and NO·1 Castelletto sopra Ticino. Because of the mistake, the present object and inscription were originally assigned the LexLep siglum NO·2, changed to VA·32 in May 2022. On the foot of the vessel is incised a circle-shaped mark which is referred to as theta "crociato a doppia traversa" by Gambari & Colonna, but is also comparable to various St. Andrew's cross or asterisk-shaped marks on the feet of the aforementioned objects.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Castelfranco 1876	Pompeo Castelfranco, "Due periodi della 1a Età del Ferro nella Necropoli di Golasecca", Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana 2,1 (1876), 87–106.
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.