IRONRODUCTIONANDIRONVOTIVEOFFERINGSATBORGOLEFERRIERE/SATRICUM (8THTO6THCENTURTESBC) A.J.NIJBOER Vakgroep Archeo/vfie. Cml/il/fel/. Nether/al/ds ABSTRACT:TheironvotiveofferingsfromVotiveDepositIatSatricum(8thto6thcenturiesBC)arepresentedin combinationwiththeevidenceforloealironproduction.The introduetionofironproductioninCentralItalyisbriefly diseussedinorder toestablish a frarework for thesituationencountered at Satrieum. This is supplementedby metallographicanalysesofsomeofthe7thcenturyBCironartefactsfromthesettlementexcavations.Thepaperis completedbyanappendixrecordingalltheironartefactsknown from  atricum. KEYWORDS:Tron,produetion,ironvotiveofferings,Satricum,Italy,Orientalizingperiod. I. INTRODUCTION The proto-historic settlement at Borgo Le Ferriere. fromnowon referredtobyitssupposedlyancientname of Satricum. has been excavated since 1977 by the University of Groningen (Maaskant-Kleibrink. 1987 1992).3 These excavations have revealed many data aong whih evidenee for the production of iron artefacts fromthemiddleof the7thcenturyBConwards (Nijboer.inprep.a).Thisactivity atthesettlementcan not be linked directly to output or toa variety of iron objects since the number of iron a=efacts from the settlementexcavationsislimited.Nevertheless.during diggings a century ago, many iron objeets were excavatedfromboththeTronAgenecropolisandVotive DepositI(8thto6thcenturyBC). The neeropolis was recentlypublished by Waar sen burg( 1994).Unfortunatel yhedidnotdoeumentthe iron artefacts eomprehensively due to their state of preservation. Waarsenburg writes that "although the Northwest Neeropolis has produeed a fair amount of ironweaponryandutensils,mostpieceshavedeeayed beyondreeognition"(p.432).Thecompletecontentof Votive Deposit I, stillawaitsa final publication. Thispaperintendstorelatetheevideneefortheiron manipulationatthesitewiththeironartefacts actually known,sincethiswouldgivesomeindicationsabout therangeofartefactsproduced. The distribution of theironobjeets in the various contexts(votivedeposit,necropolisandsettlement:see appendix) in a period that iron was still considered valuable, is significant. In the settlement hardly any metalartefactshavebeen recovered,whileintheron Age necropolis Cu-alloy artefacts are found side by side withironobjects though from 725 BConwards ironweaponrywasfairlycommonatSatrieum(Waar- 89 senburg,1994: pp. 79.89, 433) .Themajorityof iron artefactsisfoundinVotiveDeposit [ (seefigs2to8). AmongtheobjectsinVotiveDepositIareirondaggers, swords.knives.axes,sickles,spears/shafts,pins,bars, nails.rings,fibulae,pendants andbracelets.Theamount of irontools inthis depositis indicative for theprevalence of iron tools over copper alloy lools sincehardlyany eopper alloy toolsare recoverel. Dueto the fact that iron tools are onumbering coppr alloy tools by at Ieast the middle of the 7th centuy Be. it ean be concludedthatbythatperiod iron oolshavereplaced Cu-alloy loolsatSatrieum. Theinroductionof ironknivesisusuallyconsidered to be a transitional stage towards a full-fledged Iron Agewhenirontoolshavesuperseded Cu-alloy tools. This intermediae stageiswell documented at exca vations of the latial necropolis of Osteria dell'Osa. Bietti Sestieri noticed that from 770 BC onwards all knivesweremadeofiron.Whileinthepreviousperiod (c.900to770BC),ironknivesarerareand appearto havebeenpartofexceptionaltombs.thisisnolonger thecaseduringthefolIowingperiods(BiettiSestieri, 1992:p.398). T will first brieflydiscuss the introductionof iron production in Central Italy in order to establish a frareworkforthesituationeneounteredatSatricum. Thesecondtopietobepresentedistheaetual evidenee forthemanufaetureofironartefactsatSatricum.The smithingslagswillbediseussedinmoredetail andthis sectionissupplementedby metaloraphic analysesof some0of the iron artefacts from he settlement. This topic is followed by an actual aecount of the iron artefacts attributedtoVotiveDepositI and anepilogue. Thepaperiscompletedbyanappendixrecordingallthe ironartefactsfromSatricum.