TI·40 Stabio

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Object
Classification:	stela
Material:	stone
Size:	height 103.5 cm, breadth 27–35 cm, width ca. 8–10 cm
Condition:	damaged
Autopsy by:	Corinna Salomon
Date of autopsy:	Apr 27 2022
Archaeological culture:	La Tène D 1
Date:	late 2nd–early 1st c. BC
Date derived from:	typology, archaeological context
Site:	Stabio (Ticino, Switzerland)
Field name:	San Pietro di Stabio
Coordinates (approx.):	45° 51' 31.46" N, 8° 56' 5.83" E
Find date:	1875
Find circumstances:	farm labour
Finder:	Giacinto Corti
Current location:	Civico Museo Archeologico (Milano)
Inventory no.:	A 0.9.1069
Inscription:	TI·40 (komoneos/uarsileos)
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 276 Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 8 Solinas 1995: 23 Morandi 2004: 40
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 544 no. 40

Images

Stela TI·40 Stabio with inscription TI·40 from Giussani

Stela TI·40 Stabio with inscription TI·40 from Solinas

Commentary

Images in Giussani 1902: 39, fig. 8 (drawing), Tibiletti Bruno 1967b: 43, fig. 3 (photo), Solinas 1995: tav. LXIIIa (photo = Morandi 2001: 6 = Morandi 2004: 40), Piana Agostinetti 2004: 180, fig. 10.43 (drawing).

Irregular gneiss slab, probably damaged at both ends, found among other stones covering/enclosing a grave which contained ceramic vessels and bronze fibulas in February 1875 by a farmer called Giacinto Corti when digging to plant vines, in the same area where the stelae TI·41 Stabio and TI·42 Stabio had been found before (Poggi 1875: 200, Castelfranco 1879: 12, Giussani 1902: 39, no. 7); the stelae are likely to come from a late La Tène necropolis which is so far only represented by two excavated graves (Simonett 1941: 25). Originally owned by the local sculptor Vincenzo Vela of Ligornetto, the stela was sold to Pompeo Castelfranco in 1888, as part of whose collection it was acquired by the museum in the same year (Piana Agostinetti 2004: 180, Pastore 2006: 46). Inventory number obtained by inquiry at the museum. The stela was probably put up with (what is today) the copped end, which is farther from the inscription, toward the bottom, so that the inscription remained above ground (cf. Piana Agostinetti 2004: 180; differently Morandi 2001: 6 f.).

The stela is dated to the late 2^nd/early 1^st century BC by Solinas 1995: 329, no. 23 and Morandi 2004: 544, no. 40 following the dating of type D stelae in De Marinis & Motta 1991: 206, 211. What is left of the contents of the grave is discussed in Tizzoni 1984: 97, who dates the ensemble to the 1^st century BC, while Piana Agostinetti 2004: 180 gives the late 2^nd century BC for the fibulae.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Castelfranco 1879	Pompeo Castelfranco, "Tombe gallo-italiche trovate al Soldo presso Alzate in Brianza", Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana 5 (1879), 6–28.
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.