Archaeometric data on production and circulation of Neolithic Serra d’Alto ware in southern Italy during the fifth millennium BC

Abstract

Mid/Late Neolithic Serra d’Alto ware was widely diffused in southern Italy during the fifth millennium BC and shows homogeneous formal and technical features. Its wide distribution and frequent occurrence in funerary or cultual contexts have led many scholars to emphasise its exchange value. The issue of the circulation of finished pots rather than of a production model in different areas of Southern Italy, is explored by means of petrologic, mineralogical and chemical analyses of pottery samples from Apulia, Basilicata and Calabria. The mineralogical and chemical components of the Apulia and Basilicata samples fit very well with those of the Plio-Pleistocene silty clays of the Bradanic Trough, although major and trace element concentrations are significant in distinguishing different sub-groups of pottery related to their precise geographical setting. Calabrian pottery shows the exploitation of a local non-Apulian clay source. The strong similarities in technological processes and the formal analogies between pots found at distant Neolithic sites all over southern Italy does not correspond, then, to an actual exchange of finished pots produced in Apulia or Basilicata. A large network of middle-distance exchange of formal and technological models of production, between many Neolithic sites located in different geographical areas, is therefore proposed.

Using provenance data to assess archaeological landscapes: an example from Calabria, Italy

“…Traditional archaeometric concerns would focus only on verifying or refuting the local or exotic origin of these vessels. Indeed, work in north Calabria (Muntoni and Laviano, 2008;Muntoni et al, 2009) has shown that, at least at the site of Favella, they were locally produced (although see Spataro, 2009 for an argument of regional production and distribution in southeastern Italy). Our work, however, shows that local Neolithic potters of the Umbro plateau had access to two different sources of clays that could be used in the production of such vessels: the Pliocene Marls and some of the Varicoloured Clays.…”

“…We can then correlate continuities and disruptions in technology and landscape use with other archaeological data suggesting social reorganization of southern Italy (e.g., new burial customs and/or new spatial distributions of new pottery types) to examine how long-term technological traditions respond to broader social change and affect the interactions between humans, landscapes and materials. Similarly, once we understand potters' choices in each time period at the Umbro plateau, we can compare them to published data from other sites in Calabria and southern Italy (e.g., Morter and Iceland, 1995;Muntoni and Laviano, 2008;Spataro, 2009;Williams, 1980) to understand the degree to which technological knowledge was shared over wide regions and what this suggests about regional and inter-regional social interactions.…”

El horizonte neolítico de las cerámicas esgrafiadas de la Cova d’En Pardo y la Cova del Randero (Alicante). Estilo y relaciones sociales en el Mediterráneo occidental durante el V milenio cal AC

“…Cabe destacar la cerámica de Serra d'Alto, originaria del sur de Italia. Esta presenta una amplia distribución por el centro y norte de Italia, apareciendo frecuentemente en contextos funerarios, hecho que ha llevado a diferentes autores a considerarla como un objeto con valor de intercambio (Muntoni, 2012). Estudios recientes han evidenciado que las cerámicas de este estilo encontradas en el centro y norte de Italia no serían productos exportados desde el sureste, sino imitaciones locales (Bernabò et al, 2010;Mazzieri et al, 2012;Aranguren et al, 2014).…”

SiLiBA: Building the geological chert lithotheque

“…Collections of lithic materials constitute a valuable heritage, since they assemble and exhibit raw materials used in Prehistory and represent a powerful tool of knowledge of human civilizations, in particular when a significant contribution is given by the scientific studies on their samples (Muntoni 2012).…”