NO·28 Dormelletto
Object | |
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Classification: | slab |
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Material: | stone |
Size: | |
Condition: | damaged |
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Archaeological culture: | La Tène C |
Date: | second half of 2nd century BC |
Date derived from: | archaeological context |
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Site: | Dormelletto (Novara, Piemonte, Italy) |
Archaeological context: | structure 120 (Objects: NO·27 Dormelletto, NO·28 Dormelletto) |
Coordinates (approx.): | 45° 43' 48.35" N, 8° 34' 22.84" E |
Find date: | 2006 |
Find circumstances: | excavation |
Finder: | Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Piemonte (Torino) |
Current location: | Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Piemonte (Torino) |
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Inscription: | NO·28 (akluśamo/ụalos/leukur/uritu) |
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Alternative sigla: | none |
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Sources: | Gambari 2007: 258 f. |
Commentary
Image in Spagnolo Garzoli 2009: 42, fig. 27 (photo).
The slab was found among the other slabs and stones in the north-eastern corner of structure 120 (Spagnolo Garzoli 2007: 254; see the reconstruction in Spagnolo Garzoli 2009: 43, fig. 29). (Cf. NO·27 Dormelletto, which was situated in a similar position on the western side.)
The thick formless slab was broken already in antiquity, before being inscribed (Gambari 2007: 258). From the placement of the inscription, Gambari concludes that the slab was not stood up, but displayed lying flat on the ground; he does not exclude the possibility that the slab was reused as building material for structure 120. Spagnolo Garzoli 2007: 255 interprets structure 120 as a cenotaph or heroon dedicated to ancestor worship (see also Spagnolo Garzoli 2009: 41–48), while Gambari 2011: 27 f. assumes that it was a ritual deposit for boundary stones of the necropolis which became obsolete when the latter was enlarged.
The only associated find which may allow a dating of the slab within the timeframe imposed by that of the necropolis (3rd–1st century BC) is a fibula, the only non-stone object found in the filling material of structure 120, which is dated to the middle of the 2nd century BC. This dating agrees with that of tomb 124, which precedes structure 120 stratigraphically; the slab – unless it was reused – can accordingly be dated to the second half of the 2nd century BC (cf. NO·27 Dormelletto).
Bibliography
Gambari 2007 | Filippo M. Gambari, "Dormelletto. I documenti epigrafici in celtico cisalpino", Quaderni della Soprintendenza Archeologica del Piemonte 22 (2007), 256–259. |
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Gambari 2011 | Filippo Maria Gambari, "Le pietre dei signori del fiume: il cippo iscritto e le stele del primo periodo della cultura di Golasecca", in: Filippo Maria Gambari, Raffaella Cerri (eds), L'alba della città. Le prime necropoli del centro protourbano di Castelletto Ticino, Novara: 2011, 19–32. |