{"id":507,"date":"2016-04-26T09:40:26","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T09:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archaeology.sa\/en\/?p=507"},"modified":"2016-04-26T09:40:26","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T09:40:26","slug":"archaeologists-find-etruscan-stele-with-rare-inscriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/?p=507","title":{"rendered":"Archaeologists Find Etruscan Stele with Rare Inscriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_508\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-508\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-508\" src=\"wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_1e-Etruscan-Stele-300x241.jpg\" alt=\"The 2,500-year-old Etruscan stele was discovered embedded in the foundations of a monumental temple at the Poggio Colla site in Italy. Image credit: Mugello Valley Project. \" width=\"300\" height=\"241\" srcset=\"wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_1e-Etruscan-Stele-300x241.jpg 300w, wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_1e-Etruscan-Stele-768x617.jpg 768w, wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_1e-Etruscan-Stele-1024x822.jpg 1024w, wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_1e-Etruscan-Stele.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-508\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 2,500-year-old Etruscan stele was discovered embedded in the foundations of a monumental temple at the Poggio Colla site in Italy. Image credit: Mugello Valley Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The artifact in question is a sandstone slab (stele) dating from about 500 BC. It was uncovered from an Etruscan temple at the Poggio Colla site in northern Etruria, Italy.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The stele has a mass of about 227 kg and is roughly 4 feet (1.2 m) tall by more than 2 feet (60 cm) wide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe slab was discovered embedded in the foundations of a monumental temple where it had been buried for more than 2,500 years. At one time it would have been displayed as an imposing and monumental symbol of authority,\u201d said Prof. Gregory Warden, co-director and principal investigator of the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project and an archaeologist at Southern Methodist University, Dallas.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Mugello Valley dig, specifically the Poggio Colla site, is northeast of Florence, Italy. The slab would have been connected to the early sacred life of the sanctuary there.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_509\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-509\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-509\" src=\"wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_2e-Etruscan-Stele-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Closeup of text on the Etruscan stele. Image credit: Mugello Valley Project. \" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_2e-Etruscan-Stele-300x300.jpg 300w, wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_2e-Etruscan-Stele-150x150.jpg 150w, wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_2e-Etruscan-Stele-768x768.jpg 768w, wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_2e-Etruscan-Stele-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/image_3742_2e-Etruscan-Stele.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-509\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Closeup of text on the Etruscan stele. Image credit: Mugello Valley Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe architecture then was characterized by timber-framed oval structures pre-dating a large temple with an imposing stone podium and large stone column bases of the Tuscan Doric type, five of which have been found at the site.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Prof. Warden, the Etruscan stele has at least 70 legible letters and punctuation marks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is probably going to be a sacred text, and will be remarkable for telling us about the early belief system of a lost culture that is fundamental to western traditions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInscriptions of more than a few words, on permanent materials, are rare for the Etruscans, who tended to use perishable media like linen cloth books or wax tablets,\u201d added Dr. Jean Turfa, Etruscan scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Museum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis stone stele is evidence of a permanent religious cult with monumental dedications, at least as early as the Late Archaic Period, from about 525 to 480 BC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIts re-use in the foundations of a slightly later sanctuary structure points to deep changes in the town and its social structure.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_37402\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The artifact in question is a sandstone slab (stele) dating from about 500 BC. It was uncovered from an Etruscan temple at the Poggio Colla site in northern Etruria, Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":510,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507\/revisions\/510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.archaeology.sa\/en\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}