One Pot's tale: reconstructing the movement of people, materials and knowledge in Early Bronze Age Sicily through the microhistory of a vessel

Mentesana, Roberta; Benedetto, Giuseppe E. De; Fiorentino, Girolamo

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2018.03.003

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Additionally, this sample displayed evidence of animal and plant products ( Fig 6G and 6H ). A mixture of beeswax and pine resin has been observed before in archaeological ceramics from Neolithic, Roman and Medieval contexts for example in England, Egypt, France and Greece [ 106 – 108 ] as well as in Sicilian Bronze age ceramics [ 109 ], with the suggestion that it provides an effective way to waterproof or repair vessels [ 106 – 108 ]. However, the presence of beeswax in pottery may not be due to technological uses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine: Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily

et al. 2021

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Sicily, during the 9th-12th century AD, thrived politically, economically, and culturally under Islamic political rule and the capital of Palermo stood as a cultural and political centre in the Mediterranean Islamic world. However, to what extent the lifeways of the people that experienced these regimes were impacted during this time is not well understood, particularly those from lesser studied rural contexts. This paper presents the first organic residue analysis of 134 cooking pots and other domestic containers dating to the 9th -12th century in order to gain new insights into the culinary practices during this significant period. Ceramics from three sites in the urban capital of Palermo and from the rural town of Casale San Pietro were analysed and compared. The multi-faceted organic residue analysis identified a range of commodities including animal products, vegetables, beeswax, pine and fruit products in the ceramics, with a complex mixing of resources observed in many cases, across all four sites and ceramic forms. Alongside the identification of commodities and how they were combined, new light has been shed on the patterning of resource use between these sites. The identification of dairy products in calcite wares from the rural site of Casale San Pietro and the absence of dairy in ceramics from the urban centre of Palermo presents interesting questions regarding the role of rural sites in food consumption and production in Islamic Sicily. This is the first time organic residue analysis of ceramics has been used to explore foodways in a medieval multi-faith society and offers new pathways to the understanding of pottery use and resources that were prepared, consumed and combined, reflecting cuisine in different socio-economic environments within the pluralistic population of medieval Sicily.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine: Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily

et al. 2021

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“…This is the first evidence reported of birch-bark tar used in early medieval contexts outside of Britain and contrasts with the notion that there was a shift from birch tar to pine resin at the beginning of the Roman period [76]. Previously, the most recent attestation of birch pitch in Sicily dates back to the Bronze Age [77]. However, it must be noted that this evidence is limited to only one vessel and without further comparative ORA studies in this area it is not possible to suggest the persistent use of birch-bark tar at this time.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 77%

Cuisine in transition? Organic residue analysis of domestic containers from 9th-14th century Sicily

et al. 2023

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From the 9th to 14th centuries AD, Sicily experienced a series of rapid and quite radical changes in political regime, but the impact of these regime changes on the lives of the people that experienced them remains largely elusive within the historical narrative. We use a multi-faceted lipid residue approach to give direct chemical evidence of the use of 248 everyday domestic ceramic containers from Islamic and post-Islamic contexts in western Sicily to aid our understanding of daily habits throughout this period of political change. A range of commodities was successfully identified, including animal fats, vegetable products, fruit products (potentially including wine) and plant resins. The study highlights the complexity of residues in early medieval Mediterranean society as, in many cases, mixtures of commodities were observed reflecting sequential cooking events and/or the complex mixtures reflective of medieval recipes. However, overall, there were no clear changes in the composition of the residues following the imposition of Norman control over the island and through subsequent periods, despite some differences between urban centres and rural sites. Thus, lending to the idea that post-Islamic populations largely flourished and benefited from the agricultural systems, resources and recipes left by their predecessors.

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“…Arnold 1985;Kolb 1988;Matson 1995). While the concept and study of landscape as a social construction have been developing since the 1990s (Criado-Boado 1993;Ingold 1993;Knapp and Ashmore 1999) only a few research started to entangle landscape within ceramic studies with a social perspective (Tomkins et al 2004;Michelaki et al 2015;Mentesana et al 2018). Following these approaches, in this paper, we advocate the importance of joining the investigation of craftsmanship and landscape.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 92%

Crafting resilience: persistence and adaptation of the ceramic manufacture at Roca Vecchia from the Middle to the Final Bronze Age phases

Mentesana,

Iacono,

Guglielmino

2024

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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Through the second millennium BC, Bronze Age communities of Southern Italy have shown a remarkable degree of resilience in coping with changes in both macro-trends of cultural interaction and the landscape. In this paper, we will examine long-term processes of adaptation to shifting historical and environmental conditions from the vantage point of the impasto ware production at the site of Roca Vecchia (Melendugno-Lecce, IT), one of the main hubs of interaction for the Bronze Age of the Central Mediterranean. Sixty-eight ceramic individuals coming from the Middle to the Final Bronze Age levels and seven soil deposits from the site surroundings were analysed by petrography and fifteen were selected for SEM–EDX examination. We explore how changes in the complex history of the settlement and the surrounding landscape are matched in technological choices operated by the community of practice responsible for producing impasto pottery at Roca, in a moment when the long-range connection with the Aegean world was at its historical peak.

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One Pot's tale: reconstructing the movement of people, materials and knowledge in Early Bronze Age Sicily through the microhistory of a vessel

Cited by 7 publications

References 36 publications

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine: Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine: Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily

Cuisine in transition? Organic residue analysis of domestic containers from 9th-14th century Sicily

Crafting resilience: persistence and adaptation of the ceramic manufacture at Roca Vecchia from the Middle to the Final Bronze Age phases

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