Ceramic Production in the Indigenous Settlement of Entella (Western Sicily) During the Archaic Age

Montana, Giuseppe; Corretti, Alessandro; Polito, Anna Maria; Spatafora, Francesca

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-14678-7_16

Cited by 3 publications

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“…The remaining nine samples classified in PPG-I, on the other hand, are slightly dissimilar and show a greater frequency of siliciclastic inclusions (quartz, feldspars, mica). These textural features have not been found in the local outcrops of the Terravecchia Formation; however, they match what was already quantified for other outcrops of the same formation which are located near the site of Entella (DMS geographical coordinates: 37°46′26.5″N 13°07′30.0″E; Montana et al 2011a The samples grouped in PPG-II were characterized by a lumpy groundmass and a rather variable occurrence of aplastic inclusions, ranging from 10 to 25% (area). In terms of size, these grains are distributed among coarse silt (0.04-0.06 mm), very fine sand (0.06-0.125 mm) and fine sand (0.125-0.25 mm).…”

Section: Archaeological Potterysupporting

confidence: 78%

“…In the last 15 years, indigenous ceramics have been the subject of archaeometric studies aimed at identifying the production centres located in western Sicily (Kolb and Speakman 2005;Montana et al 2011a;Montana et al 2012). The chemical and mineralogical compositions of the clayey materials suitable for pottery production have already been published (Montana et al 2011b;Montana et al 2011c).…”

Section: Archaeological Background and Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The indigenous settlement of Monte Iato (western Sicily): an ethnoarchaeometric approach for outlining local Archaic ceramic productions

Montana

Polito

Kistler

et al. 2021

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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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.

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Section: Archaeological Potterysupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Archaeological Background and Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The indigenous settlement of Monte Iato (western Sicily): an ethnoarchaeometric approach for outlining local Archaic ceramic productions

Montana

Polito

Kistler

et al. 2021

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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“…The discovery of a large number of kilns in Sicily and the presence of several clay formations suitable for ceramic manufacturing [2] suggests a prosperous production of potteries in ancient times. For these reasons, much research has been performed in recent years both on clays sediments [3][4][5] and kilns materials [6][7][8][9][10] with the aim of highlighting the features of Sicilian productions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Petro-archaeometric characterization of potteries from a kiln in Adrano, Sicily

et al. 2015

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Background: This work is part of a wide scientific project finalized to characterize the Sicilian pottery productions from Greek to Roman Age. In this prospective, local reference groups have been analysed in order to create a database of the circulation and production centres in Sicily during this period. In this framework, a set of 28 waste pottery fragments (III-II century B.C.) from a pit found during excavations at the fortification of Adrano (Sicily) have been studied. Characterization of the samples has been obtained by macroscopic, petrographic (OM), mineralogical (XRD) and chemical (XRF) analyses. Results: Macroscopic analysis of the studied potteries has allowed to distinguish four groups on the basis of grain size, porosity and clay paste color. Petrographic and mineralogical analysis, carried out on a selection of representative samples have allowed us to obtain useful information on the production technology of the studied samples. Moreover, information about raw materials and provenance of clay sediments has been obtained by comparing chemical data of the analysed samples with locally outcropping clay sediments reference data. Finally, chemical results on Adrano potteries have been compared with kiln wastes from Siracusa and Gela. Conclusions: The aim of the present work is to obtain fabric characterizations and technological information on a local reference group of ceramic specimens manufactured in Adrano (Sicily). Petrographic and mineralogical results allow us to esteem high firing temperature suggesting a good technological level of local production; in addition, chemical data suggest a local provenance of raw materials used in the production of the studied samples. The comparison with local production from Siracusa and Gela highlights several differences in the use of raw material and in the technological levels achieved in the different sites, over time. Therefore, this work provides a valuable contribution in defining the local scenario of ceramic production in South-Eastern Sicily during the Hellenistic Age and in producing local reference groups in the petro-archaeometric studies of archaeological potteries.

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Technological choices and practices in local ceramic production at Iron Age Monte Iato (Sicily, 6th-5th century BCE)

Öhlinger,

Tenconi,

Maritan

et al. 2023

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Ceramic Production in the Indigenous Settlement of Entella (Western Sicily) During the Archaic Age

Cited by 3 publications

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The indigenous settlement of Monte Iato (western Sicily): an ethnoarchaeometric approach for outlining local Archaic ceramic productions

The indigenous settlement of Monte Iato (western Sicily): an ethnoarchaeometric approach for outlining local Archaic ceramic productions

Petro-archaeometric characterization of potteries from a kiln in Adrano, Sicily

Technological choices and practices in local ceramic production at Iron Age Monte Iato (Sicily, 6th-5th century BCE)

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