Excavation operations of the various stratigraphic contexts of Vigna Masci have allowed the recovery of a considerable quantity of metal artefacts, in almost all cases of iron artefacts. There are also two bone findings and two coins. These are artifacts related to everyday life, connoted by a strong functional imprint, which allow us to broaden the framework of the material culture of this multi-layered settlement. The state of conservation is extremely variable: we move from intact specimens to others that are completely fragmentary and as such lack, in many cases, the elements necessary for their functional classification. If for some artefacts it has been possible to provide precise dates, for others we have limited ourselves to a generic chronological classification, referring to the dating of archaeological deposits.
Alongside the objects referable to agricultural and craft activities in general, a small quantity of elements strictly connected to the activities of carpentry, in particular nails, has been found. The artifacts may have been used in the nailing of the wooden structures of the building's roof. As regards the place of production of the manufactured articles object of this analysis, it must be said that the discovery of small scraps derived from the processing of iron could be a good indication to hypothesize the carrying out of metallurgical activities, albeit on a small scale, functional to the production of simple and current use items such as the elements related to the carpentry and the agricultural and domestic tools in general, instruments which, by their very nature, did not require a particular technical skill in the realization phase.
The material therefore includes various groupings related to functional aspects: objects of the building (nails), door frames (key), work tools (sickle, wedge), related to the kitchen (knives) or to domestic activities in general. In particular, the partially preserved sickle, characterized by a blade with a semi- lunar profile, can probably be identified with the so-called falx arboraria. The presence of this sample could confirm the cereal vocation of the site, attested in the Daunia district starting from the Neolithic age up to more recent times. Antonio Bruscella
Origin: US 100 Bone Height 1,2 in.; length 0,6 in. Incomplete Inv. n. 237585 Circle arc profile, cable, with signs of working outside. Tripartite element by grooves, trunk at one end, finished at the other.
Origin: US 23 Bone Height 1,3 in.; length 7,6 in. Intact Inv. n. 237606 Elongated tubular element, slightly curved, resulting from the processing of a stage, probably of deer. At the ends, there are two through holes. On a stratigraphic basis this artifact can be dated to the 12th-13th century A.D.
Origin: US 114 Bronze, coinage Ø 0,9 in.; g. 2,4 Intact Inv. n. 237593 Dating: 1085-1087 Mint of Mileto D/ R/ + CA […] in the field, T between three globes, within a linear circle; around circle of beads within double linear circle. R/ pearl cross. The CALABRIE·ET·SICILIE legend is abbreviated by excluding some letters. The presence of the characteristic TAU in the follari of Ruggiero I Grand Count allows the assignment to the mint of Mileto.
Origin: US 123 Copper, coinage Ø 0,7 in.; g. 2,1 Intact Inv. n. 237584 Dating: 323-361 AD Mint of southern Italy D/ D N CONSTANTIVS PF AVG Graduate head, facing right, with beaded band and cords behind the neck. R/ FEL TEMP REPARATIO Legionnaire who stabs a knight.
Origin: US 67 Iron Height 1 in.; length 7,6 in. Intact Inv. n. 237601 Single-edged blade, straight; slightly arched back; shank with quadrangular section, pointed.
Origin: US 67 Iron Height 0,9 in.; length 4,5 in. Incomplete Inv. n. 237602 Single-edged blade, straight; distinct tang, ribbon-like.
Origin: US 64 Iron Height 1,06 in.; length 6 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG49051 Ligula in the form of trapezoidal foil, very thin; connecting element to the tang with a rectangular shape and cross-section; quadrangular shank with pointed ends.
Origin: US 114 Iron Height 0,9 in.; length 6,7 in. Incomplete Inv. n. 237597 U-bent birch at one end with flattened flanges with a foliated profile.
Origin: US 25 Iron Height 1 in.; length 5,2 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG40502 Single-edged blade, straight; curved back; grafting to the handle slightly distinct from the blade; shank with mineralized wooden traces, referable to the presence of original wooden cheeks.
Origin: US 25 Iron Height 1 in.; length 2,8 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG49053 Birch with semicircular profile, ribbon-like, with holes for nailing.
Origin: US 32 Iron Height 0,9 in.; length 5,4 in. Incomplete Inv. n. 237581 Single-edged blade, slightly curved; straight back; distinct tang, ribbon-like.
Origin: US 7 Iron Length 3,3 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG48931 Birch with rectangular section slightly enlarged on the head and pointed at the opposite end. The morphological type leads back to an instrument used as a stonemason.
Origin: US 1 Iron Height 0,8 in.; length 2,2 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG48895 Handle with circular profile; stem with rectangular section; map of subquadrangular shape, hollow inside. Dating in the fourth century. A.D.
Origin: US 23 Iron Height 0,5 in.; length 0,9 in. Intact Inv. n. FG48934 Sub-rectangular shaped head; stem with quadrangular section.
Origin: US 7 Iron Ø pinhead 1,2 in.; length 1,6 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG48897 Spherical cap head, stem with quadrangular section.
Origin: US 7 Iron Length 2,7 in.; width 1 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG48898 Truncated conical shape, full. It is possible to be a wedge.
Origin: US 7 Iron Height 0,4 in.; length 3,9 in.; Incomplete Inv. n. FG48899 Elongated shape, ribbon-like.
Origin: US 7 Iron Height 1,2 in.; length 4,9 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG48900 Elongated blade, ribbon-like, to original semilunate development.
Origin: US 1 Iron Height 0,4 in.; length 6,5 in. Incomplete Inv. n. FG49011 Stem with quadrangular section..