The two bird heads, probably swans, that extend the handle show that this is an archaic work. Birds were already found perched on various objects belonging to the pre-Etruscan civilization, known as ” Villanova”.

This civilization flourished in Tuscany between the 9th and 7th centuries B.C., a close relative of the Central European civilization of Halstatt (first Iron Age). It features horses, deer and birds associated with the cult of a solar deity, to which large golden discs, placed on a cart, were dedicated.