In questo studio sono state integrate osservazioni tipologiche, condotte su forme a vernice nera rinvenute a Palermo, Termini Imerese, Monte Iato e Marineo, con i dati ricavati dalla caratterizzazione mineralogica, petrografica e chimica degli impasti. I 55 campioni selezionati appartengono a due forme : un piatto («Lamboglia 36 » , serie 1310-1320 di J.-P. Morel), tra i più comuni nella Campana A di I e II secolo a. C. ; ed una coppa di produzione locale o regionale, attestata (fine IV-III secolo a. C.) in insediamenti della Sicilia nord-occidentale, che è stata utilizzata anche come «gruppo di riferimento » chimicopetrografico. Sono stati distinti due gruppi composizionali, da ascrivere uno all’area del Golfo di Napoli, l’altro ad ambito produttivo locale, che per le caratteristiche mineralogico-petrografiche e chimiche è riferibile alle Argille di Ficarazzi (periferia orientale di Palermo). Ad entrambi i gruppi appartengono reperti del piatto Lamboglia 36, ma solo al secondo i campioni della coppa.

This archaeometric study was focused on 28 grey to dark-grey lava artifacts found in Ustica Island (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) and referable to different grinding tools: saddle querns, rotary Morgantina-type millstones, rotary hand-mills and one small mortar. Mineralogy, petrography and bulk rock geochemical analyses emphasized that most of the grinding artifacts belonged to the Na-Alkaline series of Ustica, mainly basalts, hawaiites and mugearites. Nevertheless, some millstone samples did not match major and trace elements of Ustica lavas, in particular, one high-TiO2 Na-Alkaline basalt from Pantelleria Island, some tholeiitic/transitional basalts from the Iblei Mountains and one Calcalkaline basaltic andesite, most likely from the Aeolian Archipelago. The Hellenistic–Roman re-colonisation of Ustica Island, after ca. one millennium of nearly complete abandonment, was testified by the import of the non-local Morgantina-type rotary millstones, very widespread in the Mediterranean area from 4th–3rd century BC. This import of millstones represented, for the Ustica inhabitants, a real breakthrough for developing a local production of grinding artifacts on the basis of the new rotary technique which was much more efficient than that of the archaic saddle querns, largely used in the Middle Bronze Age. The results are also discussed in the framework of the overall volcanic millstone trade in the Mediterranean area and the different milling technology in antiquity.

ABSTRACT:The research focuses on the contribution of the integrated application of Computer Aided Restoration digital procedures as a means to guide the integration measure of an artifact, innovating and implementing the traditional investigation methods. The aim of the study was to provide effective geometrical-formal investigation tools in the frame of the conservation work of Zeus enthroned from Soluntum, conserved in the Archaeological Museum "A. Salinas" of Palermo. The paper describes the workflow of the 3D acquisition and graphical modeling with non-invasive digitalization and high information density techniques to assist the conservation of the legs of the throne, especially the integration of the missing part. Thanks to the technique of the digital fabrication it has been reconstruct the two missing parts following the theoretical criteria as: recognisability, compatibility and retractability. This innovative application of 3D digital technologies have showed as the integrated use of the new technology can be a useful tools for improving the conservation of a work of art.

An ethnoarchaeometric approach has been followed to identify the textural and compositional characteristics of the ceramic pastes produced in ancient Iaitas/Ietas, an indigenous site located in western Sicily on Monte Iato, a few tens of kilometres from Palermo. This approach was primarily motivated by the lack of discovered Archaic kilns or production sites/workshops and the inability to identify reference groups. Raw clays were sampled in the territory of San Cipirello and San Giuseppe Iato (today’s municipalities both sited on the northern slopes of Monte Iato), together with representative historic tiles and bricks locally produced until fairly recently. Grain-size analysis and experimental firings were performed on the clay samples. A significant number of archaeological ceramic samples (incised and painted indigenous pottery dating back to the seventh–fifth centuries BCE) from stratigraphic excavations on Monte Iato, and hypothesized as local productions on a stylistic-morphological basis, was carefully selected for archaeometric analysis. This set of samples (90 in total, comprising raw clays, historic tiles/bricks and archaeological ceramics) underwent a combined chemical and mineralogical-petrographic analysis to identify any possible compositional matching. This approach enabled the identification of minero-petrographic and chemical markers pertinent to the indigenous Archaic pottery produced at Monte Iato, although no evidence of coeval ceramic kilns has been found so far. Local raw clay sources have been documented and some significant points of the chaîne opératoire adopted in antiquity have been noted (clay mixing and tempering practices). Attesting Monte Iato as a centre of ceramic production and defining both the microscopic fabric and the average composition of local pastes open up new perspectives in the complex issue concerning the production and regional circulation of incised and painted indigenous ceramics in Archaic Sicily.

No abstract