1985.50.477

Collection type

Object

Description

Schematic Umbrian figurine of cast copper alloy; standing male figure.

Long description

Schematic Umbrian figurine of cast copper alloy; standing male figure. Outstretched arms and legs. Facial features present and incised dots on body.

Geographical reference

Italy

Europe > Southern Europe > Italy

Person

Field collector Walter Leo Hildburgh

PRM source Wellcome Institute

PRM source Wellcome Historical Medical Museum

Date / Period

Archaeological period: Iron Age Etruscan Date made: 525 - 290 BCE

Date collected

1919

Acquisition information

Loaned: 1985

Materials and processes

Material Bronze Metal, Process Cast, Process Beaten, Process Bent

Dimensions

Depth: max 3 mm, Width: max 9 mm, Length: max 31 mm, Weight 1.2 g

Object numbers

Accession number: 1985.50.477

Research and responses

This object was examined by Dr Simon Stoddard, University of Cambridge, as part of the Fell funded project Characterizing the World Archaeology Collections. He advised that these are not strictly amulets, but small bronzes - bronzetti schematici - deposited by worshippers on drystone platforms, normally located on intervisible mountain tops in the Umbria region. There is a good catalogue available for comparison by Colonna, G. (1970) Bronzi Votivi Umbro - Sabellici A Figura Umana, I - Periodo "Arcaico". Studi e Materiali di Etruscologia e Antichità Italiche. G.C. Sansoni. [AS 04/03/2010]

This object is among a set of figurines studied by Mirjam von Bechtolsheim and published in her doctoral thesis ‘A contextualised study of schematic Umbrian figurines c. 525-290 BCE’ (Open University, 2025): https://oro.open.ac.uk/106938/

The figurines studied (1985.50.467–474, 1985.50.476–490, 1985.50.492–493 & 1985.50.495) derive from one or more unknown sites in or around Perugia and are thought to date from the late sixth to the beginning of the third century BCE. For this object von Bechtolsheim provides the following information:

‘Classification: Esquiline Group, Series C. Conventional: Esquiline Group (Colonna 1970: 103-05) | III.3.C.4A, Late Archaic Provincial Umbrian Geometric Walking Kouroi (Hill Richardson 1983: 162).'

See the related documents file for a copy of Appendix II: Catalogue of the schematic Umbrian figures in the Pitt Rivers Museum. [JMC 03/02/2026]

Search terms: Religion, Figure, Religious Offering