18 July 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

3,000-Year-Old Iron Age Statuette Discovered in Italian Lake, With Fingerprints of Maker

During work in Lake Bolsena, a volcanic lake in central Italy, at the submerged archaeological site of Gran Carro, a  3,000-year-old terracotta female figure has been discovered. Remarkably, after 3000 years of submersion, the figure still bears the fingerprints of its maker.

This discovery was made as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which includes the creation of an underwater path for visitors to explore the site in a unique way.

The unfinished clay figure of a woman, dating from between the 10th and 9th centuries BC, looks more like a first draft than a ready-made piece of art. However, the fact that the clay worker did not fully finish the figure does not prevent the discovery from being considered exceptional and unique, and from shedding light on little-known aspects of daily life in the early Iron Age in southern Etruria.

The statuette subtle feminine features, was made of poorly fired clay. A surprising detail is that it still bears the fingerprints of its creator, as well as the impression of a fabric pattern under the chest, implying that the figure was “dressed” in some sort of garment. Measuring six inches tall, the figurine was likely used in prayer rituals.

Researchers believe that the sculpture was likely a votive figure used in domestic rituals. This idea has been supported by researchers’ discovery of other examples of similar figurines from subsequent periods, pointing to a long-held tradition of votive figurine creation in the area.

Photo: Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti Paesaggio Etruria Meridionale/ Facebook

“This important archaeological context that is giving us aspects of daily life from the first Iron Age (late 10th-century B.C.E – early 9th-century B.C.E), [of which] still little is known in southern Etruria,” researchers said.

The underwater restorers of CSR Restauro Beni Culturali made the discovery, and then the staff of the Underwater Archaeology Service handled the recovery and initial conservation treatment. These experts’ painstaking work has been essential in keeping the piece in its original condition and enabling a thorough analysis of it.

The area’s rich history, which is still little known, has been enhanced by the discovery of thousands of Iron Age artifacts since the 1960s. The archaeological site of Gran Carro di Bolsena is famous for the Aiola complex, a partially explored monumental structure that archaeologists still don’t understand. This stony heap, devoid of any structural connectors, has an elliptical base and a truncated conical shape. Beneath its stony exterior is a heap of earth.

There have been recent suggestions that Aiola is not the only structure of its kind in the lake, as it is intimately associated with the presence of thermal springs that have temperatures between thirty and forty degrees Celsius.

Photo: Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti Paesaggio Etruria Meridionale/ Facebook

The region’s rich Iron Age past was unknown to researchers until 1991 when they uncovered a group of buried stones that they now think are the remains of a sizable building that was erected close to a hot spring. 2020: When archaeologists examined the soil beneath these stones, they discovered early Iron Age ceramics and other artifacts.

During this period, the city of Aiola was home to a village that left behind thousands of artifacts, such as pottery, jewelry, and this goddess figurine. Although these artifacts have been discovered by researchers since the 1960s, it has only been recently that Aiola’s rich Iron Age past has been thoroughly investigated and studied.

The discovery of coins from the fourth-century CE Roman emperor Constantine the Great attests to the area’s continued habitation until the final days of the Roman Empire. The village was then submerged by seismic activity from the Vulsini volcano.

Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti Paesaggio Etruria Meridionale

Cover Image: Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti Paesaggio Etruria Meridionale/ Facebook

Related Articles

Evidence of a Roman shrine dating back was discovered during dig at Leicester Cathedral

7 March 2023

7 March 2023

Excavations by the University of Leicester archaeologists for have uncovered evidence that the site of Leicester Cathedral has been used...

The Roman Imperial period, There was Less Waste in the Production of Marble Slabs than Today

17 May 2021

17 May 2021

When talking about the architecture of the ancient Roman Empire, most people usually think of the mental image of white...

Archaeologists discover a hidden Maya burial chamber in the walled enclosure of Tulum

28 December 2023

28 December 2023

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have discovered a hidden Maya burial chamber concealed within a...

Roman-era structures unearthed in northwestern Turkiye dam site rescue excavations

18 May 2024

18 May 2024

Rescue excavations at the Reşitköy Dam site in the northwestern Turkiye province of Balıkesir have unearthed Roman structures, including a...

Israeli researchers create AI to translate ancient cuneiform Akkadian texts

4 May 2023

4 May 2023

Israeli experts have created a program to translate an ancient language that is difficult to decipher, allowing automatic and accurate...

Rare waka unearthed from New Zealand River, after being hidden for 153 years

16 June 2023

16 June 2023

A waka -the traditional canoe of the Maori people- believed to be over 150 years old has been salvaged from...

The Sedgeford Anglo-Saxon malting complex may be the largest ever discovered in the UK

23 July 2023

23 July 2023

As archaeological excavations resume on a hill in Sedgeford, near Hunstanton, a seaside town in Norfolk, England, now more evidence...

Archaeologists Unearth Monumental Relief Depicting Assyrian King and Major Deities in Ancient Nineveh

15 May 2025

15 May 2025

A team of archaeologists from Heidelberg University has made an extraordinary discovery in the ancient city of Nineveh, near modern-day...

KIŠIB: A Digital Archive From 80,000 Mesopotamian Seals is Being Created

19 December 2024

19 December 2024

Over the next 16 years, a research team from the Institute for Near Eastern Archaeology at the Free University of...

The Headless Corpses of Somersham was Victims of Roman Executions

30 May 2021

30 May 2021

Excavations at Knobb’s Farm in Somersham, Cambridgeshire, unearthed three small late Roman graves on the outskirts of an agricultural village....

Viking Dentistry Was Surprisingly Advanced And Not Unlike Today’s Treatments

15 December 2023

15 December 2023

Viking Age teeth at Varnhem indicate surprisingly advanced dentistry, according to the results of a study conducted at the University...

Mine-clearance divers discovered an ancient shipwreck dating from the 3rd century BC

25 June 2023

25 June 2023

As a result of collaborative training exercises between Croatian and Italian naval mine-clearance divers, one of the earliest fully preserved...

4,000-year-old cylinder seal found in Blaundos excavations

29 September 2022

29 September 2022

A 4,000-year-old cylinder seal was found during the excavations of the ancient city of Blaundus (or Blaundos, as it is...

4500-year-old tiger-patterned ritual weapon uncover in east China

4 April 2023

4 April 2023

Archaeologists discovered an extremely rare stone relic, an axe-shaped weapon used for rituals in ancient China, engraved with a tiger...

A Scandinavian Roman gladiator in York: Research Reveals Unknown Migrations Before the Viking Age

7 January 2025

7 January 2025

Scandinavian genes were present on the British Isles several centuries earlier than previously thought, including evidence from a man buried...