Although many objects of the rescue excavation carried out by the Soprintendenza per il Lazio in a small lake called the 'Laghetto del Monsignore' were stolen, the remaining miniature pots merit a catalogue, especially because these miniature votive pots date from the 10th to the 6th century BC and thus the deposit is one of the earliest known. Apart from offering a catalogue, this study tries to ascribe the littIe pots to their proper ware and use categories by comparing their fabrics and forms with normal sized pots manufactured in Lazio. The Iron Age votive deposits at lakes and springs clearly continue votive habits of old: firstly, during the Bronze Age, practised in caves far away from settlements, secondly, during the early lron Age, dedicated at cremation burials which took place near the settlements, and thirdly during the infill of the urban landscape at open-air springs and lakes near the settlements. The votive deposit at Campoverde contains many jars, which, perhaps, may be interpreted as a female dedication to the supematural power thought to be present at the lake.
The authors report on the archaeological investigations of one of the pre- and protohistoric settlement areas of the site 'Timpone della Motta' near present-day Francavilla Marittima in Calabria (southem Italy) carried out by the Groningen Archaeological Institute (GIA) between 1991 and 1995. Surveys, test pits and test trenches on a large plateau overlooking the valley of the river Raganello revealed ample traces of occupation from the middle Bronze Age to the Archaic period, a time span of almost a millennium. In this period the subsequent indigenous Bronze Age and early lron Age hut settlements at Francavilla Marittima gave way to colonial inspired stone houses and terrace building. The survey and test excavations led to the identification, and current excavation, of several Bronze Age, lron Age and Archaic settlement features. Here a general outline is offered of the various occupation episodes on plateau I as could be deduced from the surface record and the various layers and related pottery in the trenches. Fieldwork at Francavilla Marittima combines settlement excavations, such as reported on in this paper, with research of the site's sacred area on the top of the hill. The investigations are part of the project 'Dominant versus nondominant, Enotrians and Greeks on the Timpone delia Motta and in the Sibaritide' directed by prof. Marianne Kleibrink of Groningen University and financed by the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research (NWO).
A noteworthy aspect of South Caucasian Protohistoric archaeology is the presence of limited archaeological evidence concerning a series of engraved and painted signs associated with funerary contexts. These signs cannot be categorized strictly as decorations nor as true forms of proto writing. Given the paucity of research on this topic, this paper compiles the primary evidence of engravings and paintings from the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods, for which the term ‘enigmatic’ is proposed due to the current inability to provide definitive interpretations. It is suggested that these engravings and paintings may have functioned as communication systems, potentially prefiguring the writing forms of subsequent periods.
