Archaeometric Analyses of dolia of the Final Bronze Age/Early Iron Age Found at Gagliato (CZ)–Calabria–Southern Italy

Abstract

In the hinterland of Soverato (in the Catanzaro province CZ) in Calabria, Italy, in the territory of Gagliato, on a series of terraced plains, the remains of an extensive settlement have been identified with archaeological evidence that includes the various phases of the protohistoric period and the Greek age. In the settlement, numerous protohistoric ceramic finds consisting in fragments of vascular shapes of various sizes and large dolia were recovered. This paper presents the preliminary results of the mineralogical, petrographic and paleontological analyses performed on dolia samples selected on the basis of the typology and the characteristics of the ceramic impasto. The dolia analyses were obtained through various analytical techniques. Petrographic and micropaleontological studies were performed using polarized optical microscopy (POM). The mineralogical analyses were carried out using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), both on selected ceramics and on the clayey and sandy sediments sampled for comparison around the settlement area. Furthermore, micromorphological observations have been performed, using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), on selected foraminiferal tests picked up from the clay sediments collected in the study area. Data highlight the remarkable compatibility between the mineralogical composition of the dolia and the sampled sediments, and they confirm that the raw materials for ceramic production may have occurred in an area not far from the settlement, as assumed by archaeologists.