In November of 1935, a uniquely puzzling inscription in Etruscoid characters was discovered among the remains of an Iron Age necropolis west of the church at Castaneda in Canton Grisons (Graubünden, Grigione). The inscription is engraved along the spout of a bronze oinochoe (Schnabelkanne), and apart from a solitary chi inscribed on another find from this necropolis, is the only evidence of alphabetism to have been unearthed from the site. Castaneda is a hamlet strategically perched some 780 meters above sea level along the northern slope of the Calanca Valley (Val Calanca) as it opens onto the Misox Valley (Val Mesolcina), an age-old trade and communication artery that leads northward to the Lesser Saint Bernard Pass. The necropolis is, therefore, situated about 11 kilometers (seven miles) northeast of Bellinzona, which lies just across the cantonal border to Ticino (Tessin); see Map 1 and Nagy (2000a, 2000b) for a site history.
© Max Niemeyer Verlag GmbH, Tübingen 2004
