An assemblage of Picenian bronze objects »from Tarragona« in the Episcopal Museum of Vic (Barcelona / E)

Abstract

The present paper deals with an assemblage of bronze finds, which entered the Episcopal Museum of Vic at the beginning of the 20th century. The original interest of the study was the ascribing of the collection to a find from the neighbourhood of Tarragona. The assemblage is conspicuous, as it belongs to a group of jewellery and costume of the Adriatic type dating chronologically to between the mid-7th and mid-6th century B.C. (Picenum phase IV). The lack of data concerning the discovery, the rarity of objects of Adriatic origins in the western Mediterranean, as well as the different composition in comparison with  the other contemporary hoards led to a discussion and critique of the assemblage. This example indicates the necessity of checking museums’ collections, in order to gather information and to illustrate problems. In this case we are dealing with the first Italian imports in the West as preparatory work for the appropriate analysis of the Italian fibulae. The study comes to the conclusion that the depot from the Episcopal Museum of Vic was purchased as a complete assemblage on the international antique market. This type of grouping corresponds to normal strategy and business practice for the selling of finds from the Picenum during the first quarter of the 20th century.