Inventory number: 62540

Artefact's name: Bell Beaker Cup from Santa Cristina di Fiesse

Material: Clay

Method of manufacture: Handmade

Decoration type: Impression

Preservation: Very good

Restauration: Restored

Completeness: Complete

Heigth (mm): 104

Diameter (mm): 100

Width (mm):

Thickness (mm):

Weight (g):

Epoque: Eneolithic

Culture: Bell Beaker

Period: Late Eneolithic

Phase: Remedello

Absolute chronology:

Country: Italia

District: Lombardia

Town hall affiliation: Brescia

Village: S.Cristina

Discovery findspot: S. Cristina

Condition of discovery: Chance Discovery

Discovery type: Deposit

Probably modeled in a Colombino style, even though the thickness of the sides is very thin (cercini ancoration marks visible from the inside). Cup characterized by its bell shaped feature, open mouthed rim, globular body and curved base. The body presents typical Bell Beaker decorations. The surface of the vessel is smooth, red colored made out of a fine grind.

The use of a peculiar decorative technique was detected through recent analysis of the ware (Niolis in NIOLIS-MOTTES 1998, 57-59). The cord/zoned Maritime decoration, typical of the Marittime Bell Beaker Ware style, was obtained with a twined fiber string. The string spirals along the whole outside surface of the cup. The intension of creating a decoration characterized by an alternation of decorated bands and plain ones (Maritime style) forced the artist to interrupt, always at the same spot, the string. String which is then reapplied at a lower level, therefore creating a characteristic inversion of the bands (detail in picture). The base of the cup is decorated with two crossed bands

Inscription:

The cup from Santa Cristina, like other vessels from funerary contexts from the Po Valley region (Ca� di Marco, Roccolo Bresciano), fits in the Cord/Zoned Maritime style, characterized by alternated bands, decorated (comb or string style) and plain. The spiraling interrupted string technique characteristic decorative motif of this style ( explained in �decoration�) can also be found in other Bell Beaker ware recovered in burial sites in Northern Italy. The technique seems to suggest a local production with specific characteristics clearly noticeable.

The cup was recovered in one of the two tombs from Santa Cristina from Fiesse, near Brescia (south tomb). It represents one of the rare funerary context Bell Beaker recoveries in Italy. The two tombs were located close to each other almost tangent in the western edge where the feet of the bodies were positioned. This suggests the simultaneous inhumation of the bodies that were laid on their left side, along the east-west axis, with their heads pointing east. The one skeleton which has survived in good condition presents an extended right leg while the left leg is bent at a right angle. This kind of burials (single burials shaft grave, with the body positioned on one side) are similar to the ones characteristic of the close by Eneolithic burial site of Remedello. Site from which takes the name the Late Copper Age period in Northern Italy. Two post-holes were located, by archaeologists, to the north of the first tomb and two post-holes were located to the south of the second burial. These can be compared to the four post-holes found at the corners of the Bell Beaker tomb from Ca� di Marco, that have been interpreted as the remains of a typical covered monumental structure of the tomb (cd. Mortuary huts). A copper axe was recovered along with the Bell Beaker cup in the south tomb from Santa Cristina. In the northern tomb, instead, was recovered a copper knife and a second Bell Beaker vessel. These metal objects are unique in regard to their association to the Bell Beaker burials in Northern Italy. Sud canines, arrow points and small pebbles were found inside the cup.

ACANFORA M.O., 1955, Sui vasi campaniformi dell`Italia settentrionale, Rivista di Scienze Preistoriche, X, 38-46. BARFIELD L.H., 1974, Vasi campaniformi della Valpadana: attribuzioni cronologiche e culturali, Preistoria Alpina, 10, 73-77. BARFIELD L.H., 1987, The Italian Dimension of the Beaker Problem, in Waldren W.H., Kennard R.C. (eds), ½Bell Beaker of the Western Mediterranean½, BAR, IS, 331, 499-515. BARFIELD L.H., 1994, Vasi campaniformi nel Mediterraneo centrale: problemi attuali, in Tusa S. (ed.),½La Preistoria del Basso Belice e della Sicilia meridionale½, Atti del Convegno, Palermo, 439-460. COLINI G.A., 1899, Sepolcri eneolitici del Bresciano e del Cremonese, Bullettino di Paletnologia Italiana, XXV, 28-32. NICOLIS F., MOTTES E., 1998, Simbolo ed enigma. Il bicchiere campaniforme e ½L`Italia nella preistoria europea del III millennio a.C.½, Catalogo della Mostra, Trento.

Type:

Name: chiara Delpino, vincenzo Tin�