Situla Art

An Iron Age Artisanal Tradition Found Between the Apennines and the Eastern Alps and Its Identity Valencies

Bibliographic Data

ID7324893
AuthorsFabio Saccoccio (0000-0002-5531-5814, University of Nottingham, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume36
Issue1
Pages49-108
Publication date2023-03-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of World Prehistory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0892-7537 • E-ISSN: 1573-7802
PublisherSpringer Nature (PUBLISHER • SG)
DOI10.1007/s10963-023-09174-6
OpenAlexW4381465648
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited20

Situla Art is an Iron Age artisanal tradition dated to c. 660/650–275 BC, corresponding to the Hallstatt C2 to the La Tène B2 phases. It is characterised by striking sheet-bronze objects with embossed and/or incised decoration in Orientalising taste with animals, plants and/or human figures generally distributed in friezes. Situla Art is documented between the Apennines and the eastern Alps, and Este is suggested as its key centre. This paper provides a long overdue literature review, a working definition for Situla Art and an updated catalogue with 306 objects. It also (re-)investigates the influences which may have led to the emergence of Situla Art, its development and decline. Hats and earrings depicted in Situla Art are investigated to highlight their identity valencies, and to provide socio-political insights on the Iron Age elite who used Situla Art as a non-linguistic symbol-based system to acquire, exhibit and legitimate power over time in the area of its distribution

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Bronze · Bronze Age · Elite · Ethnology · Geography · Identity (music · Iron Age · Linguistics · Politics · Power (physics · Sociology · Symbol (formal · Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies · Ancient Mediterranean Archaeology and History · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Philosophy

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