The Mediterranean trading centre of Vivara (southern Italy): New insights on the production and circulation of pottery during the Bronze Age (16th – 15th century BCE)

Abstract

The important discoveries at the recent archaeological excavations at Punta d’Alaca site in the west side of the Vivara island (Campania region) highlighted the presence of a Bronze Age thriving settlement attesting the development of a flourishing ceramic production, mainly specialized in the manufacturing of common wares.The archaeometric study performed on twenty representative samples by means of chemical and minero-petrographic techniques revealed that pottery was produced in-situ; however, locally-manufactured vessels here coexisted with imported ones.Coarse-textured, local potteries were made by low-CaO clays mixed with volcanic temper consistent with the volcanic products of Campanian volcanoes. The firing (likely a pit firing) was done in rough conditions, as proved by mineralogical evidence that suggest variable firing temperatures. In fact, low firing temperatures (<700 °C) have been estimated for a group of vases showing a detectable amount of clay minerals (interstratified clays, kaolinite, chlorite), whereas samples showing residual illite/mica likely experienced higher firing temperatures (700–850 °C).It is worth noting that three vessels have different mineralogical and textural features; two account for the presence of siliciclastic temper with rare volcanic grains, despite a geochemical similarity with local pottery. By contrast, one vessel has peculiar mineralogical components such as a coarser temper made of granitoid rocks that distinctively include schorl/dravite tourmaline; this allowed us inferring its provenance from the Tyrrhenian coastal area of Tuscany. Eventually, the archaeological and archaeometric data illuminate that island of Vivara was an important Mediterranean trading centre during the Bronze Age for its strategic position in the Mediterranean Sea for western and eastern commercial circuits, that involved the routes of metallic raw materials.