Neighbourly ties: Characterizing local and Sicilian pottery in post-medieval Malta

Abstract

The development of post-medieval archaeology has been uneven in the Mediterranean. While major advances have been made in areas, such as the Aegean and Italy, others have garnered little sustained archaeological interest. In Malta, one of the principal barriers to the development of post-medieval archaeology has been the lack of knowledge and published findings regarding one of the most important find-types: pottery. The present study presents the results of the first archaeometric (chemical and minero-petrographic) analysis of post-medieval pottery in Malta, which sheds light on the changing ceramic relationships between Malta and Sicily during the 17th to early 20th centuries. The results demonstrate that, on the one hand, locally-made Maltese pottery remained important throughout the post-medieval period, as did pottery from the Messina Straits area. While, on the other hand, pottery from the Syracuse area can be shown to be linked to the activities of the navy of the Knights of St John.