The Dana Estes Collection of Bronzes 



in the Peabody Museum of 



Harvard University 1 



By Charles Peabody 



HISTORY OF THE COLLECTION AND OF THE SITE WHENCE IT CAME 



N 191 1 the Peabody Museum of Harvard University 

 received a collection of prehistoric North Italian bronzes 

 as a legacy from the late Dana Estes of Boston. This 

 collection was gathered in the middle eighties 2 and came 

 from a necropolis at Caverzano, near Belluno, in Venetia. 

 Comparatively little is known of the prehistoric Bellunese; the 

 cemeteries seem to be composed of tombs arranged more or less in 

 rows, containing vessels of clay and bronze; in these are cremated 

 human remains, with accompanying ornaments and utensils of metal 

 and other materials. Bronze is by far the commonest, but a good 

 deal of iron and a little gold are found, as well as a fair proportion of 

 terracotta vases. Beads and small things in glass, amber, resin, paste, 

 bone, and stone, are common. 



The work that has been done in this neighborhood is in a fairly 

 restricted area, the Estes collection, as well as others now in Italy, 

 having been found on the hill-slopes bordering the torrent of the 

 Ardo, a tributary of the Piave which flows into the Adriatic, east of 

 Venice. 



The pioneer worker here was M. Leicht, 3 whose description of the 

 tombs and of conditions is entertaining. Speaking of an interview 

 with the owner of part of the site, on the subject of previous explora- 

 tions, he says: 



Da essa [Signora Zanussi-Buzzati, the owner] seppi che nell'interno di queste 

 celle mortuarie i vasi di bronzo cinerarii erano in vario numero e contenevano 

 oltre alle ossa carbonizzate ed alle ceneri, anche varii oggetti di bronzo, e che la 

 difficolta di raccogliere quelli che si sono sottoposti quindi alio studio dipendette 



1 In writing this article the author wishes to acknowledge the aid and cooperation of Mr C. C. 

 Willoughby, Dr E. A. Hooton, and Dr F. H. Sterns, of the Peabody Museum. Dr Sterns made 

 all the negatives. 



2 In 1884 and 1885 according to an accompanying declaration of D. Francesco Pellegrini, signed 

 at Belluno, July 20, 1887; in 1886 and 1887 according to Salomon Reinach in The Nation for 

 Sept. 15, 1887. 



3 Atti. R. 1st. Veneto, 1, 4, p. 891; vide also comment by G. A. Pirona, ibid., pp. 871 ff. 



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