Search results for " Petrography"

Italica (Seville, Spain): use of local marble in Augustan age

2010

This study concerns 51 marble finds made of “Cipollino verde” coming from the ancient city of Italica (north of the modern city of Santiponce, 9 km NW of Seville, Spain), the earliest Roman settlement in Spain, founded in 206 B.C. The aim of this work was to determine their provenance from Greek and Italian quarries or from local quarries worked in the Iberian Peninsula. Thin-section optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, bulk rock chemistry and O, C and Sr stable isotope analyses were carried out. Results were compared with literature data on “Cipollino verde” marbles quarried in southern Euboea (Greece), Apuan Alps (Italy), Almería, Extremoz, Seville (Spain) and Évora (Portugal). T…

Carthage's military installations of the First Punic War on Monte Pellegrino (Palermo)

2019

The excavation in the park of Villa Belmonte (Monte Pellegrino, Palermo) has brought to light several warehouses, made with a “pseudo-frame” technique, probably with a straw roof, used for the storage of foodstuffs, given the large quantity of Punic-type amphorae found in situ, datable to around the middle of the third century BC. In addition, a section of road - about 3 m wide that proceeds in the direction of WNW- ESE, consisting of two layers of use - has been intercepted. We believe to have tracked down part of a strategic/military station used by the Carthaginian army during the crucial years of the First Punic War.

Ethnoarchaeometric Study of the Traditional Cooking Ware Production Centre of Pabillonis (Sardinia): Investigating Raw Materials and Final Products

2010

Ethnoarchaeometry can be used to test assumptions in ceramic provenance studies. Within the Late Roman Cooking Wares (LRCW’s) commercialised in the Western Mediterranean some fabrics such as Fabrics 1.2, 1.6/1.7 and 1.9 (Fulford and Peacock, 1984) have been proposed to have a Sardinian origin. This motivated a specific project to explore the nature of cooking pottery on the island and the raw clays as well as the production technologies that have been used traditionally for their manufacture. In this paper, the traditional cooking pottery making in Pabillonis (Oristano province) was studied. First, a field survey in the area of Pabillonis was undertaken in order to locate the raw materials …

INDIGENOUS TABLEWARE PRODUCTION DURING THE ARCHAIC PERIOD IN WESTERN SICILY: NEW RESULTS FROM PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS.

2010

La produzione di ceramica da mensa a Solunto: un esempio di continuità tecnologica dallʼetà arcaica a quella ellenistico-romana.

2009

Solunto is one of the most important Phoenician-Punic colonies of north-western Sicily. Archaeometric researches carried out in the last years ascertained a local production of transport amphorae during Archaic and Classic age (7th-5th century B.C.) through mineralogical, petrographical and chemical analysis of ceramic samples, kiln refuses and local raw materials (clays and alluvial sands). In connection with these earliest works, the present paper was focused on some specific forms of fine-tempered table ware of Archaic age and/or Classic-Hellenistic age. This pottery has been recurrently brought to light in Solunto and it is furthermore suspected to be, at least to some extent, a local r…

Early Bronze Age painted wares from Tell el-'Abd, Syria: A compositional and technological study

2018

Abstract The ‘Euphrates Monochrome Painted Ware’ (henceforth EMPW) is a ceramic style attested in the Middle Euphrates region in northern Syria at the beginning of the Early Bronze Age, ca. 2900–2700 BCE. This style is not an isolated phenomenon; rather, it must be understood in the context of a general, albeit short-lived, re-introduction of painted ceramics into local assemblages of Greater Mesopotamia. In the present study, we investigate the technology and provenance of the painted pottery from Tell el-'Abd (North Syria) and its relation to contemporary ceramics retrieved at this site. We apply a combination of macroscopic observations, ceramic petrography, and micro X-ray diffraction (…

Pantellerian ware: a comprehensive archaeometric review.

2007

Pantellerian ware is a Late Roman cooking ware whose production centre was established on the island of Pantelleria by the pioneering research of Fulford and Peacock almost 20 years ago (Peacock 1982; Fulford and Peacock 1984). Archaeological and archaeometric studies carried out by the authors of the present contribution during the past four years have aimed to fully characterize this ceramic class. Recurrent ceramic forms, their distribution over time and space, their petrographic characteristics and their chemical identity, as well as possible raw materials and their technological properties, were considered. The present paper is a comprehensive review of this archaeometric work and aims…

Discrimination and provenances of Phoenician red slip ware using both the solid state electrochemistry and petrographic analyses

2020

[EN] Solid state electrochemistry based on the voltammetry of immobilized microparticles (VIMP) methodology is applied to a series of 80 Phoenician Red Slip samples from the archaeological sites of Motya (Sicily, Italy), Mogador (Morocco), Ramat-Rahel (Israel), Sulky (Sardinia, Italy), Tas Silg (Malta), Pantelleria (Italy), and Cadiz (Spain), dated from the 8(th) to the 6(th) century BC. Upon attachment of sub-microsamples to graphite electrodes in contact with aqueous H2SO4 electrolyte, voltammetric features due to the reduction of Fe(III) minerals and the oxidation of Fe(II) ones, complemented with electrocatalytic effects on oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions, provide charac…

Geological and cultural heritage: Dissemination experiences in Tuscany

2019

We report on some recent experiences of scientific dissemination activities on geomaterials carried out by a network of scientific organizations in Tuscany (Italy). The primary message we want to disseminate is that even the most "insignificant" rock (e.g., those constituting the bar or kitchen counter-tops) stores in their interior very useful information beyond the beautiful colors and their aesthetic appearance. These rocks can tell stories of very old geological periods on how they were formed. Their structures, texture and shape, as well as their chemistry and mineralogy provide clues to the reconstruction of geological events. Moreover, the rocks used in urban architecture and monumen…

The production of western Greek amphorae in Agrigento (Southern Sicily): An archaeometric and archaeological characterisation of the late 6th-4th cen…

2022

This paper aims at an interdisciplinary, archaeological and archaeometric characterisation of the western Greek amphorae series produced in late Archaic and Classical-period Agrigento (southern Sicily). The research is based on a macroscopic examination, according to the standardised methods of Fabrics of the Central Mediterranean (FACEM), combined with petrographic analyses of 21 amphorae samples of presumed local fabric found in Agrigento itself. These were found in the artisanal area outside Porta V, in the excavations South of the temple of Zeus, and in several Sicilian consumption sites. Furthermore, a selection of 12 coarse ware samples and three tiles, all of supposed local manufactu…