What is "situla"

n. In modern archaeology, a deep ceramic vase with a wide opening.

Situla is the Latin for bucket or pail, and is used in archaeology and art history for a variety of historic objects with this shape.

Situla can also mean:

• Situla culture or "situla art", a phase of the European Iron Age in north Italy, Slovenia etc, when decorated bronze situlas were prominent
  • Situla of the Pania, Etruscan, ivory
  • Situla Benvenuti, north Italy
  • Vače Situla Slovenia
• Kappa Aquarii, a star in the constellation Aquarius
• Nassa situla, a sea snail of family Nassariidae
• USS Situla (AK-140), a US Navy cargo ship, in service 1943–1946

Situla, from the Latin for bucket or pail, is the term in archaeology and art history for a variety of elaborate bucket-shaped vessels from the Iron Age to the Middle Ages, usually with a handle at the top. All types may be highly decorated, most characterisically with reliefs in bands or friezes running round the vessel.

Decorated Iron Age situlas in bronze are a distinctive feature of Etruscan art in burials from the northern part of the Etruscan regions, from which the style spread north to some cultures in northern Italy, Slovenia, and adjacent areas, where terms such as Situla culture and situla art may be used.

Situla is also the name for types of bucket-shaped Ancient Greek vases, some very finely painted. More utilitarian pottery situlae are also found, and some in silver or other materials, such as two Late Antique glass ones in St Mark's, Venice. Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern shapes tend to have a pointed bottom, so that they must rest on a stand or on their side. The practical wider shape is a European invention, first seen in the European Bronze Age.