TI·27 Mezzovico-Vira

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Object
Classification:	stela
Material:	stone
Size:	length 275 cm, width 28 cm, thickness 42 cm
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	Golasecca III A
Date:	5th–early 4th c. BC
Date derived from:	typology
Site:	Mezzovico-Vira (Ticino, Switzerland)
Coordinates (approx.):	46° 5' 12.21" N, 8° 55' 10.93" E
Find date:	May 1984
Find circumstances:	construction work
Finder:	Luigi Coldesina
Current location:	Casa comunale (Mezzovico-Vira)
Inventory no.:	161.1984.1
Inscriptions:	TI·27.1 (kuaśoni:pala:terialui) TI·27.2 (akiuip?ụotialui)
Alternative sigla:	Solinas 1995: 20 Motta 2000: 3 Morandi 2004: 26
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 533 f. no. 26

Images

Stela TI·27 Mezzovico-Vira with inscription TI·27.1

Stela TI·27 Mezzovico-Vira (photograph by C. Reguzzi)

Commentary

Images in Donati 1985: 231, fig. 31 (photo), De Marinis & Motta 1991: 203, fig. 1 (photo and drawing), Motta 2000: 198, fig. 2 (photo).

Unusually high stela of light grey granite gneiss found in alluvial sediment at a depth of ca. 3 m during the extension of the restaurant "La Palazzina", apparently together with an anepigraphic specimen which was not salvaged (Donati 1985, De Marinis & Motta 1991: 201). Originally left leaning against the wall of the guesthouse, the stela was taken to Locarno for restauration before 2004, on which occasion the second inscription was detected (see Morandi 2004: 533); from late 2023 onward, it will be displayed at the casa communale of Mezzovico-Vira. The stela is the northernmost inscribed stone document from the Sottoceneri and the only one from the Valle del Vedeggio (cf. Piana Agostinetti: 153). See the inscription pages for the typological/palaeographical dating.

See also Piana Agostinetti 2004: 154 f.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

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.
Donati 1985	Pierangelo Donati, "Mezzovico-Vira, distr. di Lugano, TI", Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Ur- und Frühgeschichte 68 (1985), 231.