Production technology and knowledge transfer of calcite‐tempered grey ware bowls from 2nd‐ to 5th‐century ceNoricum (Austria)

Abstract

Aspects of 2nd-to 5th-century CE Roman production technology and knowledge transfer in southern Austria (known as Noricum) were examined. With no evidence for workshops identified in the study area, 44 grey ware bowls from two sites at Aguntum and Lavant were studied macroscopically, and combined with optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, prompt gamma activation, neutron activation and scanning electron microscopy, in order to understand whether one (large) workshop supplied these bowls, or whether the bowls were produced by several (small) workshops nearby. Combined with information from the geological background, the results were used to tentatively indicate the production location. The results indicate that the grey ware bowls from Aguntum and Lavant were produced by local workshops nearby. The bowls were manufactured with similar clay sources, tempered with crushed calcite-marble rocks from the Tauern Window, their surface smoothed and burnished, and fired between 800 and 850 C in a reducing atmosphere of an open fire. This is taken to suggest that Roman potters, who were located at Aguntum and Lavant, shared strategies of raw materials selection, paste preparation, finishing and firing, and transferred technological knowledge through time.

Roman Republican coarse ware from Norba, Southern Lazio (Italy): a multi-analytical study of production technology and trade

“…Following research by Maniatis and Tite ( 1981 ), Cultrone et al ( 2004 ), Maritan et al ( 2005 ), Gál et al ( 2018 ), Borgers et al ( 2020 , 2022 ) a.o. on microstructural changes of ceramic bodies, significant differences were identified among the coarse ware jars studied.…”

“…XRD was performed on 20 samples (NO1, NO3, NO4, NO6, NO8–NO10, NO12–NO17, NO19, NO21–NO24, NO28, NO31), to establish mineralogical compositions and to identify changes in the ceramic body, which might have occurred during the firing process (Ionescu et al 2011b ; Gál et al 2018 ; Borgers et al 2022 ). A few grams of each sample were hand-milled in an agate mortar and analysed with a Bruker D8 Advance diffractometer with Bragg-Brentano geometry, working with Cu-radiation at 40 kV and 40 mA, at the Department of Geology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca.…”

“…CFE-SEM-EDX was used to examine the microstructure of the matrix and firing products, with the aim to estimate the firing process of ancient pottery (Maniatis and Tite 1981 ; Tite et al 1982 ; Cultrone et al 2004 ; Maritan et al 2005 ; Gál et al 2018 ; Borgers et al 2020 , 2022 ). For this purpose, 19 samples (NO1, NO3, NO4, NO6, NO8, NO10, NO12–NO17, NO19, NO21–NO24, NO28, NO31) were examined with a Hitachi 8230 microscope working at 30 kV acceleration voltage, 50 s live time and with a < 10 nm electron beam, allowing a very high resolution of the backscattered and secondary electron images.…”