Table 2
Chemical composition (by XRF) of brown-painted fine ware pottery samples: major and minor elements and L.O.I. (wt %). m = mean; σ = standard deviation
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... It is probably also no coincidence that this paste recipe was also found in that part of the Iberian Peninsula closest to the Balearic Islands and that was possibly associated with maritime routes connecting the archipelago and the continent between 2000 and 1000 bc. The use of crushed calcite as temper is moreover also widely documented throughout the Mediterranean, including Neolithic and Chalcolithic Greece (Vitelli 1989), Italy (Capelli et al. 2006;Muntoni et al. 2009) and southern France (Basso et al. 2006). On the Iberian Peninsula, it has been recorded along the Mediterranean coast from Alicante to the Llobregat River. ...
Human communities that inhabit small islands often express some kind of fragility and ‘islandness’ that
requires the development of certain strategies to minimize the risks involved in occupying hazardous environments.
In this paper, we interpret the technological choices developed by Bronze Age potters’ communities
from the small island of Formentera (Balearic Islands, Spain) by studying certain features of pottery pastes
and some typological aspects of the vessels. Our aim is to explore the way certain technological choices played
a key role in the construction of group social memory, the strengthening of community cohesion and the
establishment of bonds with other groups from the same island and from other nearby and larger islands
of the archipelago. The technological practices observed in pottery production allowed a greater capacity for
resilience in the human communities from Formentera, which in turn permitted the stable and long-term
occupation of the territory.
... Calcareous rock fragments and spathic calcite were extensively used as temper throughout history (e.g. Muntoni et al. 2009;Fabbri et al. 2014;Santacreu 2014a;Tenconi et al. 2016). The presence of carbonates (mainly calcite) in the ceramic body may have different forms, which implies different types of reactivity with the clay matrix (e.g. ...
The issue of clay processing concerns both provenance and techno-functional ceramic investigations. In the former, the compositional/textural modification of clay alters the petrofacies expressed by the ceramic body and causes a change from the raw material in terms of bulk chemical and mineralogical composition and petrographical features as well. In the latter, identifying the signs of clay processing will provide information on the steps of the chaîne opératoire and on the technological choices made to adjust paste plasticity and to avoid failures in the following stages of manufacture. Several examples of clay processing were considered, encompassing deliberate addition of natural and artificial temper and clay mixing, other than fractioning and homogenisation to prepare the forming stage. The expected effects of mineral, vegetal and animal tempers on the paste and on the fired body were outlined. Finally, some analytical guidelines are provided to identify clay processing, using the most common analytical methods. Optical microscopy and electron microscopy provide the main contribution to identifying most of the processing practices on the clay, whereas bulk methods provide indirect evidence that may alone be insufficient to prove the occurrence of a specific transformation, as well as to detect homogenisation features. However, only a careful and multidisciplinary investigation of the ceramic body will help reveal the actions of the chaîne opératoire and to test archaeological models in a sound bottom-up perspective.
... The presence of carbonates (mainly calcite) in the ceramic body may have different forms, which implies different type of reactivity with the clay matrix. In Mediterranean area, several examples of calcite tempered pottery are reported [84][85][86]. The presence of calcite in the paste may have very different effects on sintering degree of the ceramic body [24,27,55,87]. ...
... Spathic calcite deliberately added to the clay paste in Late Neolithic and Bronze age pottery from Apulia (southern Italy), represents an interesting case study [85]. Most of the Apulian territory is characterized by the presence of Cretaceous limestones belonging to the Apulian microplate [88][89][90] and of transgressive and regressive calcarenite deposits of Neogene and Quaternary age [91,92]. ...
... In Figure 5, a coarse ware from Masseria Fragennaro (Laterza) shows the presence of angular spathic calcite added as temper [85]. The coarse size of clasts and the prevalent reducing conditions during firing (RO, see above) stabilized calcite in the EFT range of 800-900 °C. ...
Ceramics are among the most studied findings, one of the best markers for providing technological and functional information in archaeological contexts. Their chemical-mineralogical characterization allows to answer a large number of historical-archaeological questions about classification, provenance, production technologies, trade routes, economic exchange, etc. The best methodological approach not only integrates morphological-stylistic studies to the archaeometric ones, but also includes a synergic instrumental strategy aimed both to take advantage of each different analytical technique to the best of its potentiality and to over step the problems connected to the preciousness and uniqueness of the objects. As far as the mineralogical and petrographical composition of preindustrial ceramics is concerned, its determination is crucial to answer provenance and technological issues like raw materials procurement and the production processes in this respect, equivalent firing temperature, redox atmosphere during firing are important factors that help in understanding the relevant mineralogical and micro-structural transformations. In this paper, we illustrate how an integrated approach of analytical techniques, tested on different classes of ceramics - pottery with spathic calcite, Apulian red figure pottery and technical ceramics - can provide answers to archaeological questions.
... The presence of carbonates (mainly calcite) in the ceramic body may have different forms, which implies different type of reactivity with the clay matrix. In Mediterranean area, several examples of calcite tempered pottery are reported [84][85][86]. The presence of calcite in the paste may have very different effects on sintering degree of the ceramic body [24,27,55,87]. ...
... Spathic calcite deliberately added to the clay paste in Late Neolithic and Bronze age pottery from Apulia (southern Italy), represents an interesting case study [85]. Most of the Apulian territory is characterized by the presence of Cretaceous limestones belonging to the Apulian microplate [88][89][90] and of transgressive and regressive calcarenite deposits of Neogene and Quaternary age [91,92]. ...
... In Figure 5, a coarse ware from Masseria Fragennaro (Laterza) shows the presence of angular spathic calcite added as temper [85]. The coarse size of clasts and the prevalent reducing conditions during firing (RO, see above) stabilized calcite in the EFT range of 800-900 °C. ...
Ceramics are among the most studied findings, one of the best markers for providing technological and functional information in archaeological contexts. Their chemical-mineralogical characterization allows to answer a large number of historical-archaeological questions about classification, provenance, production technologies, trade routes, economic exchange, etc. The best methodological approach not only integrates morphological-stylistic studies to the archaeometric ones, but also includes a synergic instrumental strategy aimed both to take advantage of each different analytical technique to the best of its potentiality and to over step the problems connected to the preciousness and uniqueness of the objects. As far as the mineralogical and petrographical composition of preindustrial ceramics is concerned, its determination is crucial to answer provenance and technological issues like raw materials procurement and the production processes in this respect, equivalent firing temperature, redox atmosphere during firing are important factors that help in understanding the relevant mineralogical and micro-structural transformations. In this paper, we illustrate how an integrated approach of analytical techniques, tested on different classes of ceramics – pottery with spathic calcite, Apulian red figure pottery and technical ceramics – can provide answers to archaeological questions.
... This unique ceramic involves a new production system characterized from a technological point of view by a selection with a possible decantation of clays and an articulated cooking system in an oxidizing environment (Muntoni et al., 2009;Spataro, 2017). Preliminary analysis of manufacturing traces indicates a coiling technique by individual elements extremely stretched to obtain thin walls. ...
Trichrome painted wares spread out during the Middle Neolithic (between 5000 and 4500 cal. BC) along the Adriatic side of the Italian Peninsula. The pottery production was characterized by a very fine-granulated paste defined figuline and by a decoration painted with red and black colors. This research reports the results of X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and micro-Raman spectroscopy analysis focused on the decoration of the ceramics from two distinct geographical groups, corresponding to the village of Ripoli (Abruzzo, Central Italy) and to the Matera's caves (Basilicata, Southern Italy). A representative set of samples has been studied. XRF and micro-Raman analyses reveal that the black decoration was obtained using a black pigment based on manganese-iron oxide, whereas the red one includes iron oxides. To investigate the multilayer structure of the samples, a Monte Carlo simulation has been performed on the XRF data.
The results, together with the data achieved on samples of the Serra d'Alto Culture from Matera's sites, allow to confirm previous hypotheses on the figuline production. In particular, a technological evolution is proven by the selection and control of the raw materials associated to a technologically advanced firing system. The choice of a manganese pigment is a further technological connotation of figuline potteries.
... 500/600°C) perhaps in fire pits. Even in the core area of this culture, a gradient of skills is evident among different production sites suggesting that craft and workshop specialization occurred within the areas where Plio-Pleistocene Apulian silty clays occur (Laviano and Muntoni, 2006;Laviano and Muntoni, 2009;Muntoni et al., 2009;Muntoni and Laviano, 2008). Serra d'Alto is a particularly exciting case study for understanding the extent of trade networks and social contexts during the 5th millennium (Barfield, 1981). ...
... All of these pots were produced using local marly clays (i.e. Plio-Pleistocene Argille Subappennine) (Muntoni and Laviano, 2008;Muntoni et al., 2009;Laviano and Muntoni, 2007). ...
... Previous studies have established that the local silty clays that out crop in the Bradanic trough (South West of the Murge Plateau) were used for producing the Serra d'Alto ceramics even though Plio-Pleistocene Argille Subappennine of the Bradanic cycle outcrops on a regional scale in south-eastern Italy (Muntoni, 2002(Muntoni, , 2003Muntoni, 2006, 2009;Muntoni and Laviano, 2008;Muntoni et al., 2009). Therefore, the chemical compositions of both S1 and S2 samples have also been compared with the compositions of the raw material identified in the considered region (Muntoni, 2003) and particularly with the Plio-Pleistocene clays from (i) the Tavoliere Plain (South West of the Gargano Plateau), (ii) the Ofanto Depression (North West of the Murge Plateau) and (iii) the Bradanic Trough stricto sensu (SI. ...
In the framework of the reassessment of the Neolithic Square-Mouthed Pottery series from locus P8, Lare 2 cave (Saint-Benoit, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, South-eastern France), two sherds were identified as possible replicas or importations of fine painted ware (i.e. figulina) from Serra d’Alto contexts (Southern Italy). Combining geological and chemical methods (thin section analysis, microprobe, XR diffraction, XR fluorescence and Scanning Electron Microscopy), a transdisciplinary study was designed for the characterization of the archaeological ceramics and the identification of the clay resources used in their manufacture.
The results allow the authors to discount production using a local clay resource. Instead, they support the hypothesis that pottery was traded over a distance of 1200 km, from southern Italy to the Alps. This new data highlights the demand for the products of the Serra d’Alto workshops, which mastered kiln production, as well as the spatial extension and the intensity of intercultural networks during the Early / Middle 5th millennium BCE, a time of increasing social complexity in Europe.
... In the samples analyzed by micro-Raman spectroscopy the mineral phase formation of jacobsite has been identified. The presence of jacobsite in the black pigments indicates a relatively high firing temperature (about 1000°C); similar findings were also reported by Maggetti 1982 [18] and Ellis 1984 [11] and our data confirms a firing temperature of the Serra d'Alto figuline pottery in the range of 800-1000°C, in an oxidizing atmosphere, as reported in the literature [19]. ...
During the Middle Neolithic (between 5000 and 4500 cal. BCE) the Serra d'Alto Culture was particularly widespread in Matera's territory and in Apulia region. Serra d'Alto pottery wares consist both of a very fine yellow paste—called figuline—decorated with patterns in black, and of a medium/coarse paste.
In this paper, the X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyses of 102 samples of black painted decorated figuline pottery are reported. We analyzed sherds from six archaeological sites of Matera's area: Serra d'Alto, Trasano, Setteponti, Tirlecchia and Pipistrelli's cave, and Funeraria cave.
The results show that a black pigment based on manganese has been used for the decoration of each of the Serra d'Alto samples. The exclusive presence of this material suggests a deliberate technological choice and defines a regular characteristic of Serra d'Alto pottery manufacturing.
This study is part of an interdisciplinary project on painted pottery in the central and southern Italy, from Early to the Middle Neolithic period.
... However, the tephra dispersion of Campanian Volcanoes reached the Adriatic region56 and then is possible the foreign provenance of pottery with the same volcanic inclusions. In the case of figulina pottery the provenance from Basilicata and Apulia is probable, because of the diffused presence of fine calcareous clays [7] and the well-known large distribution of Serra d'Alto figulina pottery ware89. Summarizing, while we await the results of further analyses in progress, we suggest that the raw materials were local, although perhaps involving some special effort in procurement. ...
... In this way, the use of crushed calcite temper in surrounding regions could indicate the existence of contacts, social interactions and cultural transmission that would have promoted the establishment of a cultural koine throughout this large territory. Thus, the use of this temper is well-known in the Mediterranean area since the Neolithic (5000-3000 BC) and Chalcolithic (3000-1750 BC) periods in places like Greece [15], the Balkans [16], Italy [17,18], southern France [19][20][21][22], and the Iberian Peninsula [23,24]. Moreover, its use is also documented in the English Bell-Beaker period [25,26]. ...
In this paper we approach the study of a ceramic recipe based on the addition of crushed spathic calcite as temper. We first briefly discuss the anthropological significance underlying the identification of technological paste recipes, as well as the spatial distribution of the spathic calcite recipe in the Mediterranean basin. Subsequently, we focus on the possibilities of identifying this recipe using several analytical methods, including binocular microscopy, image analysis, petrology, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray fluorescence. Thus, the complementarity existing between different methods commonly applied in pottery analysis is considered in order to know the potential of these various techniques to identify spathic calcite recipe and classify the ceramic record to maximize the social archaeological interpretation of the data. The final objective is to know the feasibility and limitations that certain analytical procedures - such as the binocular microscopy- have for extrapolating the identification of this recipe to a larger series of ceramics from only certain features of the paste.
'Figulina' pottery refers to a fine, light-coloured ceramic class commonly occurring in Neolithic assemblages of southern and central Italy and, on the opposite side of the Adriatic Sea, along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. In northern Italy, figulina pottery occurs in limited quantities during the 5th millennium cal. BCE and seems to diverge from the local ceramic productions in terms of technological choices and firing procedures. In light of these technical considerations, past scholarly research hypothesised the existence of networks involving either the exchange of figulina vessels or dynamics of knowledge transmission between Neolithic communities bearing distinct pottery traditions. In this paper, figulina sherds from five mid-late Neolithic settlements located in the southern Po Plain area of northern Italy have been analysed through a multi-analytical archaeometric approach that comprises macroscopic fabric analysis, thin section petrography, X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) and portable X-Ray Fluorescence (p-XRF). The investigation was carried out with the scope of exploring the technological choices behind the rare figulina pots exceptionally retrieved at the Po Plain sites. Results shed light on the production technology and presumable provenance of the raw materials selected for figulina productions in the region, disclosing possible scenarios of technological transmissions while calling into question the ceramic production model currently hypothesised for Neolithic northern Italy.
Full open access at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2024.104473
