Fresh Fingerprints on an Ancient Statue

A CLAY FIGURINE HAS SPENT MILLENNIA incomplete, waiting at the bottom of a lake for its long-dead craftsman to finish the Iron Age-era statuette.

- Tim Newcomb

During work at the underwater archaeological site of Gran Carro di Bolsena in Aiola, Italy, researchers pulled the rudimentary clay creation from the volcanic Lake Bolsena. The unfinished clay figure of a woman, dating from between the 10th and 9th centuries B.C.E., looks more like a first draft than a ready-made piece of art. But just because the clay worker didn't fully finish the figurine doesn't mean there aren't plenty of clues available to show how it fits into Italian life in the Iron Age.