Discovered in a Hellenistic-period tomb in the region of Puglia in the “heel” of Italy, this pig-shaped terracotta vessel—known as a guttus—was both a baby bottle and a toy. Terracotta rattles in the pig’s belly may have helped soothe babies. The tomb, dated between the end of the fourth and the third-second centuries B.C., was found during excavations conducted by the Archaeological Superintendency of Puglia in the town of Manduria. During the Hellenistic period, the region was inhabited by the Messapians, a tribal people who are popularly believed to have migrated from Illyria in the western Balkan Peninsula around 1000 B.C. The remains of two individuals were found in the rock-cut tomb. The excavators believe the tomb may have also held the remains, long since decomposed, of a newborn baby, or that the female individual had been pregnant at the time of her death.
A. Israelite watering can
B. Messapian baby bottle
C. Egyptian piggy bank
D. Philistine canteen
E. Greek wine jar
058 Answer: B. Messapian baby bottle
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