Coarse Ware Research Articles

From the kilns to the fair: producing building materials at Faragola and Canusium (northern Apulia, Italy)

Faragola and Canusium potters used Ca-rich clays—widely available nearby—for the production of building materials. The clayey materials were used as received, before being fired in the local kilns at temperatures between 600 and ~1000 ° C. No technological distinctions were made in relation to the type of object to be produced (tile, brick, etc). The investigated productions are compositionally distinguishable from both coarse wares for cooking and fine table ware produced in the same archaeological sites. A fine clayey material, very similar to that used for table ware, was supplied for the production of these building materials, which are chemically, mineralogically and petrographically very similar among themselves. Hence, the Faragola and Canusium bricks and tiles cannot be easily discriminated but the presence/absence of volcanites and volcanic glass represents an effective discriminating factor, able to indicate areas of different supplies within two main deposits: the Pleistocene marine and alluvial terraced deposits, typical of northern Apulia.

Un atelier de potier à la périphérie de la ville de Thapsus aux premiers siècles de l’Empire. Annexe de Claudio Capelli et Siwar Baklouti, Caractérisation pétrographique de céramiques provenant d’un possible dépotoir de potier à Thapsus

This article sheds focuses on the material collected in two underground chambers excavated in the outskirts of the city of Thapsus, following an incidental discovery in 2004. The archaeological material is mainly constituted of a large quantity of ceramic sherds related to amphorae, cooking-and coarse ware, and hand-made pottery. A major proportion of this ceramic could have been locally produced, as demonstrated by the relative homogeneity of the typology and petrography. As a matter of fact, unfired dried clay bars and sherds plead in favour of the preparation area of an underground pottery workshop. The whole material seems to date to the Ist c. AD. This typological horizon completes the ceramic production scheme of Byzacena during an important period of transition between the Punic period and the Roman period.

Lamluda: from the excavation to the archaeometric analysis

AbstractIn the last ten years the Archaeological Mission of Chieti University in Cyrenaica has investigated, through intensive field surveys and excavations, several contexts of the Cyrenaicanchora. Among the many recorded settlements, Lamluda is the most interesting because of its urban organisation, productivity and location at the intersection of the main road network. Our aim is to present the preliminary data from the mapping, survey and excavation of the site, including the results of the archaeometric analysis and the epigraphic study. Among the copious ceramic finds the Roman coarse wares and amphorae are particularly numerous, dating mainly to the Imperial, Late Roman and Byzantine periods. The pottery illustrates not only the longevity of the settlement, which lasted until the eighth or ninth century AD, but also helps to trace the evolution of agricultural wealth and trade. Through archaeometrical and archaeological research it is possible to identify the main local products and their circulation, as well as the imported or exported amphorae and hypothesise on the nature of their contents.

KARATAŞ BURNU YÜZEY ARAŞTIRMASINDA BULUNAN HELLENİSTİK VE ROMA DÖNEMİ KERAMİKLERİ

The present article deals with the Hellenistic and Roman pottery collected during the Karatas-Survey in 2007 at the site of the orthogonal settlement. Since the discovery of ruins in 1811 by F. Beaufort at Cape Karatas (Adana Provin­ce, Eastern Cilicia), scholars have discussed whether they belonged to Mallos or to its port and sanctuary Magarsos. Today it is usually agreed that the settlement encircled with fortifications on Cape Karatas belong to Magarsos. The earliest examples of Hellenistic fine ceramics from Karatas are the black-glazed pottery dating to the end of the 4th and the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The sherds, which can be compared with material from the deposits of Syrio-Palestinian sites (3rd-1st centuries BC), comprises mainly Hellenistic Colour-Coated pottery. Hellenistic and Roman Eastern Sigillata A (ESA) forms are also documented. The latest examples of Roman Period are Eastern Sigillata B (ESB) dating to the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. The coarse pottery assemblage comprises mainly storage, transport and kitchen vessels with light coloured fabric and displays a variety of forms including craters, mortaria, amphorae, and cooking vessels. The earliest examples can be compared with the ceramics of the 3rd century BC from different deposits in Syrio-Palestinian and Cypriot sites. A cooking pot (lopas), is the latest datable sherd among the coarse wares. Typological analogies with the findings from Tarsus and Knossos allow us to classify this type to Middle Ro­man Period.

Tracking the social lives of things: biographical insights into Bronze Age pottery in Spain

Pottery has sometimes been compared to a living organism in its cycle of birth, life and death or discard. A biographical approach to an unusual assemblage of pottery from the Late Bronze Age site of Pico Castro in central Spain suggests that they had been used together at a communal feast. The shared social memory that they acquired thereby conferred on them a special status that resulted in their eventual placement in the pit, fine wares and coarse wares together. Thus the varied biographies of the individual vessels—and the individual sherds—eventually converged not only in their discard but in the episodes that preceded it.

The Faragola Ceramic Collection: Ceramic Production, Consumption and Exchange in Seventh‐Century Apulia

A collection of 30 ceramic samples, 16 of coarse wares and 14 of fine painted wares, have been investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and neutron activation analysis. Further samples of clayey sediments, both locally outcropping and found within the settling tank, have been submitted to the same analytical techniques for comparison with the ceramic collection. The results demonstrated that local clayey sediments were used as received for the production of coarse wares. The same raw materials were sieved and/or refined by decantation for the production of fine painted wares, which, in fact, provided results that were perfectly comparable with those for the clayey raw materials found within the settling tank. The Faragola productions were distinguished from the neighbouring Apulian productions according to petrographic features (the presence of leucite‐bearing volcanic rocks and Mn‐rich wads) and their bulk chemical composition.

Pots, plates and provenance: sourcing Indian coarse wares from Mleiha using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry analysis

The identification of more than 25% of the pottery sherds from the late PIR.D period (ca. 2nd - mid. 3rd c. AD) assemblage from the recently excavated building H at Mleiha as Indian is based on form and fabric, but using only visual assessment. Petrographic analysis of the fabrics can provide more precise indicators of the geographical origin of the wares. In this study, a total of 21 sherds from various key sites in Western India were compared with 7 different 'Indian' coarse-ware vessels sampled at Mleiha using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. The analyses were conducted on powdered samples collected from the core of each sherd. Each sample was irradiated for 1000 seconds using a 1.2 mm diameter X-ray beam. The resulting spectra were used for quantification of the X-ray intensity and elemental concentration. Levels of correlation in the elemental ratios of the sherds were statistically tested using an F-test as well as a Chi-test. Initial review of the XRF results indicates that the Maharashtra and Gujarat regions of India are probable source areas for at least two of the types of wares. Collection of additional samples from these areas and other regions of India, and further statistical analysis through methods such as Principal Component Analysis will help to isolate groups of wares from India and correlate them with types of vessels imported into the Oman peninsula in antiquity.

Book Review of Pithoi: Technology and History of Storage Vessels Through the Ages, by Mimika Giannopoulou

Although considered of marginal scholarly interest for many decades, coarse ware has received much attention lately. It is now widely acknowledged that coarse ware contributes to the investigation of political, economic, and ideological parameters in a given cultural setting. The study of pithoi (large storage jars), in particular, a quite distinct coarse ware shape, may shed light on patterns of pottery production and distribution as well as on the reconstruction of storage behaviors and economic practices.

NORTH APULIAN COARSE WARES AND FINE PAINTED WARES: A REAPPRAISAL ACCORDING TO NEW DATA FROM HERDONIA AND CANUSIUM

Late Antique coarse cooking wares and painted fine wares found at Herdonia (second half of the fourth century to mid‐fifth century ad) and Canusium (late sixth century to early seventh century ad) have been chemically and mineralogically characterized. A total of 74 samples (40 of coarse ware and 34 of fine painted ware) was investigated through optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray powder diffraction, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, neutron activation analysis and X‐ray fluorescence. A new statistical method, namely the classification tree methodology, was used for the treatment of geochemical data. The characterization of the Herdonia and Canusium assemblages was combined with a review of earlier results obtained for San Giusto and Posta Crusta, in order to get an insight on Late Antique ceramic trades in northern Apulia. It appears possible to reconstruct a production pattern organized at multiple production sites, both rural and urban, that exploited similar raw material deposits, specialized in certain productions, and commercialized products at different geographical scales. Imports from outside northern Apulia may be identified for coarse wares. A likely area of production is difficult to establish; however, the northern Adriatic coast and the area of Greece may be suggested.

Egyptian Coarse Ware in Early Islamic Palestine: Between Commerce and Migration

This study offers a critical re-evaluation of chronological aspects and distribution patterns concerning two main types of Egyptian coarse ware (Red-Brown Ovoid Amphorae and Coarse Ware Basins) identified in Early Islamic assemblages (eighth to tenth centuries AD) in Palestine. While the distribution of Egyptian amphorae is explained in socio-economic terms as reflecting normal trade relations, the appearance of Egyptian coarse ware basins in a limited number of local assemblages may imply the actual presence of Egyptian migrants (merchants or soldiers).

New14C Dates of Neolithic and Early Metal Period Ceramics in Lithuania

Twenty-three samples of charred food remains, charcoal, burned animals, and human bones from 14 Lithuanian prehistoric sites were dated by radiocarbon as part of a dating project oriented towards renewing the prehistoric ceramics chronology. The new dates modified the dating of ceramic styles by hundreds to a thousand years. Three Textile Ware sherds were dated to 4230–2920 cal BC—the oldest known dates of Textile Ware pottery in the East Baltic. The organic-tempered pointed-bottomed Narva and Combed-like Wares were dated to 3970–3370 cal BC, while Bay Coast Ware (Haffküstenkultur, Rzucewo), including vessels decorated with cord impressions, were dated to 3940–3540 cal BC, i.e. to a period well preceding the Corded Ware/Battle Axe horizon in Europe. Three dates of Globular Amphorae Ware placed the phenomenon directly beyond the Bay Coast chronology, i.e. in 3450–2920 cal BC. Chamotte-tempered Corded Ware from SE Lithuania was dated to 2840–2570 cal BC. The first absolute dating of coarse ware of the Žalioji type pointed to a period of 760–515 cal BC instead of the previously assumed 2nd millennium cal BC. Cremated human bones from urns found at Paveisininkai, Kernavė, and Naudvaris cemeteries were dated to 790–380 cal BC. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) dates obtained from charred food remains should be treated with a certain caution due to a possible freshwater reservoir effect that has not yet been examined in Lithuania.

Archaeometric characterisation of coarse and painted fine ware from Posta Crusta (Foggia, Italy): technology and provenance

Coarse and painted fine wares from the Late Antique residential complex of Posta Crusta (Lucera, Foggia, Italy) have been here investigated. The ceramic characterisation was our main concern; even so, the provenance and the production technology have been further investigated, focusing on both ceramic bodies and coatings. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and a set of bulk chemical analyses (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, instrumental neutron activation and X-ray fluorescence) were used for the characterisation of 44 samples. Chemical and mineralogical data here obtained were compared with results previously achieved on San Giusto local production, in order to distinguish production areas and identify possible exchanges. As for coarse wares, the characterisation of Posta Crusta pottery shed new light for the reconstruction of the production/distribution framework of this part of northern Apulia. The following trends can be identified: (1) pots from Posta Crusta and San Giusto settlement that can be referred to a single production site, likely located in the nearby territory of one of this two sites; (2) pots from San Giusto kiln exported to Posta Crusta; (3) pots of unknown origin but compatible with the northern Apulian area. Furthermore, it was possible to verify that all Posta Crusta ceramics used the alluvial deposits widely outcropping in northern Apulia as received. As for painted fine wares, Posta Crusta samples enucleated a distinct and homogenous group, including six samples from San Giusto. This result is highly encouraging as it provides the clear evidence of a production group, although it is not possible to refer it to a precise locality. The marine deposits outcropping in northern Apulia can have been surely exploited for raw materials supply. Coatings texture seems to suggest two different ways of application: immersion and painting.

Mössbauer study of Celtic pottery from Bopfingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

In the course of a study of pottery from Celtic Central Europe, we report on an investigation of pottery found in the context of a Celtic ditched square enclosure near the modern town of Bopfingen in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. The studied pottery may be visually subdivided into wheel-turned ware, graphite ware, and coarse ware. The Mössbauer spectra are surprisingly uniform, indicating that all types of pottery were fired in a similar manner. Firing in a reducing environment at 800 °C was usually followed by re-oxidation during cooling, which leads to unique features in the low temperature Mössbauer patterns.

Made in the Nene Valley? Identifying the origins of mortaria using ICP analysis

The Nene Valley, in eastern central England, was a major pottery production centre in the Roman period. Many kiln sites have been identified in the Lower Nene Valley region and, although comparatively less is known about production in the Upper Nene Valley, substantial amounts of mortaria and other coarse wares have been recovered during excavations at Roman sites in the area, and much of it is thought to be locally made. However mortaria made in the Upper and Lower Nene Valley can be difficult to tell apart, and many also have similar forms and fabrics to mortaria produced in Mancetter–Hartshill, Warwickshire. Therefore ICP analysis was used in an attempt to identify the products of different regions. The ICP data showed that the Nene Valley mortaria are compositionally distinct from the Mancetter–Hartshill mortaria in terms of major and trace elements, and the Upper and Lower Nene Valley mortaria could be differentiated from each other using trace elements. Some mortaria were stamped by the potters that made them and so the compositional data could be used to determine where each potter worked. The Nene Valley mortaria were made from the Upper Estuarine Series clay, in common with other types of Roman pottery produced in the Nene Valley, and so the data presented here have also proved useful for investigating the origins of other types of wares.

Late Rontan Burnished Ware in Adriatic Italy: The Archaeometric Evidence for Trade from the Central Adriatic Town of Potentia (Porto Recanati), Italy

This paper presents the results of a fabric study of the late Roman coarse wares (3rd century–6th century A.D.) from the Roman coastal town of Potentia (Porto Recanati) Marche, Italy). The petrographic analysis established the presence of several imported coarse ware classes, originating from the eastern Mediterranean to northern Africa. Of particular interest are the Adriatic common wares, which allow us to examine and define the extent, scale, and configuration of ancient trade within Adriatic Italy. While it is difficult to trace trade routes, items transported as a secondary commodity, like regional coarse wares, can help in reconstructing ancient economic interaction. The burnished coarse ware discussed here documents the ancient N-S trade routes from the Po region to the central Adriatic. Moreover, the identification of a northern Italian ware in central Adriatic Italy shows that this burnished coarse pottery had economic value and was part of a wider distribution network within the Adriatic.

Styling Romanisation: Pottery and Society in Central Italy by Roman E. Roth

BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 429 Styling Romanisation: Pottery and Society in Central Italy. By Roman E. Roth. New York: CambridgeUniversityPress. 2007. Pp. 237. Styling Romanisation is a revision of Roth's doctoral dissertation (University of Cam bridge, 2003), devised as "an exercise in making pottery work as a source for understanding important historical issues" (1)?in this case, analyzing black-gloss wares to study "how the Romanisation of Italy affected the behaviour of regional and, in particular, non-elite populations in different areas of non-formalised, social discourse" (38). Roth has chosen black-gloss wares because their "cultural meaning is in many ways conditioned by their cheapness and wide use" (1); that is, theygive insightinto a broad spectrumof the population rather than simply the elite, whose influences and priorities were not necessarily those of thepeople at large. Rather thanfocusingon themost highlycrafted vessels, Roth is specifically interested in the more common products that were both produced and distributed within central Tyrrhenian Italy from the early second century b.c. onwards (7). This region's adoption of black-gloss wares was part of a homogenous development throughout much of Italy (Chapters Two andThree), yetRoth's specificcase studiesof locally-produced potteryatVolterra (ChapterFour) and Capena (ChapterFive) high light the heterogeneous circumstances and adaptations that simultaneously occurred at themicro level (Chapter Six). As such,Roth has produced awork that will appeal to social and economic historians, ceramicists, and archaeologists in general. The author's thoughtful testing ofvarioushypothesesandmodels, including ones drawnfromsociology and other disciplines, also makes this study a useful educational tool for graduate stu dents. The firsthalf of thebook isdevoted to reviewingthemain argumentssurrounding Romanization (Chapter One) and thestudy ofblack-glosspottery(Chapter Two), setting up Roth's own methods (Chapter Three). In Chapter One, "Romanisation," Roth asserts that so much scholarship has been devoted to arguing about this term that it has now become a neutraland usefuldescriptor, divestedof itsoriginalbaggage (10). This view seems premature.1 Roth's own definition of Romanization becomes clear through his critique of recent models of Romanization (particularly those ofMario Torelli, Martin Millet, Greg Woolf, and Nicola Terrenato), combined with concepts of "social power" and individualagency (especiallyfollowing AnthonyGiddens's CentralProblemsinSocial Theory: Action, Structure, and Contradiction in Social Analysis [Basingstoke and London 1979]). Chapter Two pays tribute to the contributions of the two pre-eminent black gloss specialists, Nino Lamboglia and Jean-Paul Morel, but also points out how their individual research aims limit their applicability here. For instance, in his Ceramique campanienne (Rome 1981),Morel was interested in thebroad socio-economic implications ofpopular types. On the basis of observingwidespread standardization, Morel concluded that production was controlled by the elite, but carried out by a slave or otherwise oppressed labour force which had no creative input into its products. Morel's study was never intended to address the situationat the localor regionallevel, which is where Roth's investigation takes over. In Roth's view, it is precisely at those lower levels that one can assess not onlyhow controlledproductionactually was, but also howmuch variability existedin the consumption and use of vessels from one area to the next (59-60). Roth contends that the adoption ofblack-glosspotteryand itsplace in thecommunity were the resultof local, 1 See, for instance, my review of H. E. M. Cool's Eating and Drinking in Roman Britain (Cambridge 2007) in Mouseion51 (2007)171-174. 430 PHOENIX socially-informed decisions, rather than submission to the elite or to a blanket Roman fashion. In the second half of the book, Roth presents his case studies and conclusions. His study of the ceramics from Volterra (Chapter Four) reveals that, in the second century B.C., local black-gloss potters split their focus into two branches, one following themore formal, Volterran heritage of fine ware production and the other introducing a grittier fabric for turning out larger quantitiesofvessels, the shapesofwhichwere largelyinspired by local plain and coarse wares. With these products, individual non-elite households began to have two sets of locally-made black gloss wares, one in a mediocre fabric for routine use, and a second in a less common, finer ware for special occasions and more specialised usage. Roth argues that, since the products carried different associations, those made in the mediocre fabric cannot...

The Pottery from the Mannean Site of Qalaichi, Bukan (NW-Iran)

Mannea is the most important state in the first millennium B.C that ruled a vast part of northwestern Iran for several centuries. The ancient site of Qalaichi near Bukan, is one of the most important sites of Mannea and dateable to around 800-600 B.C. (Iron Age III). The high quality pottery assemblage of Qalaichi is of prime importance and can be classified into fine, common and coarse wares. It contains also a few painted and glazed sherds comparable to material from Ziwiye and Zendan-i Soleyman.

Middle Woodland Ceramic Exchange in the Lower Illinois Valley

This paper examines the exchange of Middle Woodland ceramics within the Havana region of the Hopewell Interaction Sphere. Ceramics from six lower Illinois Valley sites and samples of surrounding clays are examined using neutron activation analysis. Statistical evaluation of the elemental data reveals the presence of foreign ceramics in all six site samples. The local ceramics encompass a variety of both fine and coarse wares, including several sherds initially anticipated as exotic based on style. In contrast, the foreign sherds consist almost exclusively of coarse tempered, utilitarian types. Contrary to conventional wisdom, these data suggest that fine tempered, special purpose vessels were manufactured near their place of discovery, while utilitarian pottery may have circulated among Middle Woodland communities. In documenting the presence of foreign sherds in all of the study samples, this study confirms the regular transport of ceramic vessels into and within the lower Illinois Valley region.

Integrating archaeology, archaeometry and geology: local production technology and imports at Paola (Cosenza, Southern Italy)

This paper documents a comprehensive study of coarse wares for table use, serving, washing and cooking, found at the archaeological site of Paola (Cosenza, southern Italy). Major aims of the study were to group local products and imports and to determine technological features of local products. Results were obtained through a combination of archaeological (stratigraphy and ceramic typology), chemical and mineralogical–petrographical techniques (ICP-OES, ICP-MS, INAA, XRF, OM, SEM-EDS and EMPA). Data integration revealed that the coarse wares found at Paola were produced locally or imported over short (Calabria region), medium (Campania, Pantelleria, Sicily) and long distances (Greece and Africa). The local production focused on basins, stewpots, pitchers, bowls, pans, casseroles and lids, sometimes imitating African, or Pompei (Campania) or San Foca (Puglia) typical shapes. The production technology of local ceramics used a sandy–clayey blend of materials collected in the immediate vicinity of the archaeological site, fired at intermediate (about 800 °C) to low (around 650–750 °C) temperatures and used a Fe-rich clayey compound as a red ceramic coating. From a technological perspective, the Paola example arise new questions about table wares produced with clay bodies typical of cooking wares.

Review of "Second International Conference on Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean: Archaeology and Archaeometry", Aix-en- Provence, France, 13th-16th April 2005

Following the success of the “First International Conference on Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean: Archaeology and Archaeometry” organised in Barcelona in March 2002, a second conference was held in Aixen-Provence, France, 13th-16th April 2005. This triennial conference was organised by the Centre Camille Jullian and the Laboratoire d’Archeologie Medievale Mediterraneenne (CNRS-Universite de Provence). Approximately 180 participants, essentially European lecturers, students, museum curators and pottery specialists from archaeological units, attended the conference. The main focus of the meeting was the presentation and discussion of recent developments in Late-Roman coarse ware, cooking ware and amphora studies from the fifth century AD to the end of Antiquity. This four-day conference was divided into eight main sessions chaired by relevant speakers, and in total 42 papers (consisting of 15-minute presentations in English, French or Italian) and 45 posters were presented. Due to the high number of oral presentations, only a few can be mentioned here.