VB·21 Verbania
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| Classification: | stela |
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| Material: | stone |
| Size: | height 192 cm, width 53 cm, thickness 5–9 cm |
| Condition: | complete |
| Autopsy by: | Corinna Salomon |
| Date of autopsy: | Apr 20 2024 |
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| Archaeological culture: | Augustan, Tiberian |
| Date: | late 1st c. BC–early 1st c. AD |
| Date derived from: | typology |
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| Site: | Verbania (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Piemonte, Italy) |
| Field name: | Zoverallo |
| Archaeological context: | tomb |
| Coordinates (approx.): | 45° 56' 44.08" N, 8° 34' 34.81" E |
| Find date: | 1838 |
| Finder: | Filippo Ponti |
| Current location: | Museo del Paesaggio – Sezione archeologica ‟Enrico Bianchetti” (Ornavasso) |
| Inventory no.: | none |
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| Inscription: | VB·21 (leucuro/moconis/f) |
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| Alternative sigla: | Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 15c Morandi 2004: 64 |
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| Sources: | Morandi 2004: 563 no. 64 |
Images
 Stela VB·21 Verbania with inscription VB·21
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Commentary
Images in Müller 1913: tav. IV and V (drawings), Piana Agostinetti 2004: 194, fig. 10.54 (drawing), Mainardis 2009: 345, fig. 8 (photo).
Large rectangular mica schist stela which formed the covering of a tomb found by the architect Filippo Ponti in 1838 in Zoverallo, probably belonging to the sporadically discovered necropolis (Barocelli 1918: 89). Detailed description in Piana Agostinetti 2004: 193 f. The shape of the stone is similar to that of two of the stelae from Levo (one epichoric, one Roman). The gravestones from the Verbano cannot be marshalled into a clear chronological order, as factors like stone shape, frames, writing direction, letter forms and language/text formula appear in almost free combination. Mainardis 2009: 337 f. correctly points out that one stonemason/workshop would be able to produce stelae according to more traditional or modern tastes all dating to roughly the same time. Morandi dates the document to the middle of the 1st c. BC – a high dating which matches his datings of the Roman Stresa stelae; we prefer a later dating (cf. the Roman inscriptions from Stresa).
See also Müller 1913: 9–16, Caramella & De Giuli 1993: 231.
Bibliography
| Barocelli 1918 | Pietro Barocelli, "III. Zoverallo. Necropoli di età romana. Scoperta di un nuova tomba", Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità 15 (1918), 88–90. |
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| Caramella & De Giuli 1993 | Pierangelo Caramella, Alberto De Giuli, Archeologia dell'Alto Novarese, Mergozzo: Antiquarium Mergozzo 1993. |
