LEAD ISOTOPIC EVIDENCE FOR A MIXED PROVENANCE FOR ROMAN WATER PIPES FROM POMPEII*

Lead isotope analysis has been applied to the investigation of some Roman objects found in the town of Pompeii, consisting mostly of fistulae from the Augustan water supply system. The results of the analyses have produced ratios between 18.10 and 18.66 for ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb, between 15.63 and 15.72 for ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb and between 38.21 and 38.98 for ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb. These data point to a fairly complex origin for the lead artefacts, probably involving several successive meltings and recyclings of a rather heterogeneous lead supply. The spread of lead isotope ratios can only be reconciled with a multiplicity of end‐members, at least three, but very probably more. There is one certain Sardinian ore, other indistinguishable Hercynian ores of Sardinia and/or Spain, and several different Alpine Mesozoic‐Tertiary mineralizations of the Mediterranean basin (Spain, Greece, Tuscany).     

MULTI‐METHOD MARBLE PROVENANCE DETERMINATIONS: THE CARRARA MARBLES AS A CASE STUDY FOR THE COMBINED USE OF ISOTOPIC,ELECTRON SPIN RESONANCE AND PETROGRAPHIC DATA*

A multi‐method approach, based on petrography, stable isotope data and electron spin resonance spectroscopy for assigning the provenance of white marbles, is presented. A total of 11 experimental variables has been used, including the quantitative measurement of the sample colour and its homogeneity. On this basis we attempt to distinguish the three main quarrying basins of the Carrara district, that is, Torano, Miseglia and Colonnata. Such discrimination, extremely uncertain on the basis of the single techniques, may be performed with acceptable confidence’ using a properly selected subset of six petrographic, isotopic and spectroscopic variables. The final resubstitution and jackknifed re‐assignment rates are, respectively, 85% and 81%. Inclusion of the remaining five variables into the classification rule does not improve the results, but simply increases data overinterpretation. The practical possibility of using such an approach for more general provenancing problems is considered.     

ARCHAEOMETRIC INVESTIGATIONS OF SGRAFFITO CERAMIC TILES (FIFTEENTH‐SIXTEENTH CENTURIES) RECOVERED FROM EXCAVATIONS IN UDINE (NORTH‐EAST ITALY)*

Most of the Renaissance sgraffito tiles excavated in Udine (Italy) constitute a homogeous group, the tile body having a CaO/MgO molar ratio ?= 3:2. They were produced using a dolomite‐ and calcite‐containing clay fired at 900–950°C. A small group of samples, with a lower firing temperature and a CaO/MgO ratio ?= 2:3, was probably produced in a different factory. Slip and transparent glaze, characterized by optical microscopy and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, are an illite‐rich clay and a lead silicate, respectively.     

Glass Fragments from the Crypta Balbi in Rome: the Composition of Eighth‐century Fragments

Eighth‐century glass fragments from the Crypta Balbi in Rome were analysed by inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. The samples included fragments of artefacts as well as ingots of raw glass and wasters. All the fragments proved to be soda–lime glasses. Manganese‐to‐iron atomic ratios are highly variable and determine the colour of a large number of samples. Fairly high copper contents, generally associated with relatively high amounts of antimony and lead, were detected in some green and blue–green samples: this suggests recycling of glass in the form of opaque mosaic tesserae. All three elements are higher in eighth‐century than in previously analysed seventh‐century fragments. This may indicate greater recourse to recycled glass, related to a reduction in trade exchanges in the Mediterranean.     

MEDIEVAL LEAD GLASS IN CENTRAL EUROPE

In Trommsdorfstraße, Erfurt, a glass‐processing workshop has been excavated, which produced lead glass rings and beads in the 13th century. This workshop produced two different lead glasses. The first, a high‐lead glass, could be found throughout Europe, from England to Russia. However, another newly defined type of glass could be identified (Central European lead–ash glass). This can be demonstrated by analysing the literature, and it has been found in eastern Germany, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. A Slavic lead–ash glass with the same ash content as the Central European lead–ash glass but lower amounts of lead was produced in Eastern Europe. In western Germany, another type of ash (beech ash) was used to produce a wood‐ash lead glass. Lead‐isotope analysis proved that the same source of lead was used for the wood‐ash lead glass and the high‐lead glass in western Germany and the two types of glass from Erfurt.     

GAUSSIAN CURVES FOR VISUALIZING CHRONOLOGICAL PATTERNS OF CERAMIC FINDS AND RESIDUALITY*

This paper describes a particular statistical approach to chronological data from assemblages of archaeological finds (namely pottery) using Gaussian curves: the method enables us to obtain a graphic representation of chronological patterns that avoids an excessive flattening of data, adding an extra dimension to the usual linear temporal concepts. This enables us to arrive at more likely absolute dating and also visualize residuality. The method has been built during the study of a stratigraphic context from the Site of Ancient Ships of Pisa – San Rossore, Italy, and applied to its pottery. Archaeologists may find in the model a useful tool that is easy to apply.     

STUDYING TECHNOLOGICAL PRACTICES AT A LOCAL LEVEL: NEUTRON ACTIVATION AND PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF EARLY CERAMIC PERIOD POTTERY IN CENTRAL CHILE*

We discuss neutron activation and petrographic analyses of domestic ceramics and some raw materials from five archaeological sites in the Valdivia de Paine locality, in Central Chile. During the time period studied, the area was occupied by small‐scale horticultural groups with disperse and sedentary or semi‐sedentary settlement patterns. The analyses indicate that diverse local raw material sources were used in pottery production, and shared by members of different co‐residential units and between different cultural groups. The data indicate as many similarities as differences among the technological practices of pottery‐producing groups who lived in spatial proximity. The results have implications for the understanding of pottery‐producing communities at a local level, as well as small‐scale groups in general.     

Plants in Late Medieval festivals and customs in written and pictorial sources from southern central Europe

Abstract

This paper derives from research carried out on plant representations in Late Medieval religious art in southern central Europe. The uses of plants in most important Late Medieval religious festivals and customs in southern central Europe are described. Plants with festive connotations are identified and shown in their cultural contexts. The main goal of this research was to show how visual evidence, interpreted with the help of historical sources, could contribute to archaeobotanical research on Late Medieval plants and their use in festive occasions in the region in the later Middle Ages.     

ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL GLASS FROM THE ITALIAN AREA: BULK CHARACTERIZATION AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES*

Compositional investigations were performed on 81 Roman and medieval glass fragments (first to 14th centuries ad ) from four Italian archaeological sites. The samples were soda–lime–silica in composition, with natron as flux for the Roman and early medieval glass samples, and with plant ash as flux for the late medieval ones. The varying colours are due to the differing FeO, Fe ₂ O ₃ , MnO and Sb ₂ O ₃ contents. Hierarchical cluster analysis identified six compositional groups related to age, which were compared with those found in the literature. In this way, technological continuity from the Roman to the early medieval period and the appearance of plant ash technology in the ninth century, 200 years in advance of the period previously believed, are demonstrated.     

NEOLITHIC ‘GREENSTONE’ AXE BLADES FROM NORTHWESTERN ITALY ACROSS EUROPE: A FIRST PETROGRAPHIC COMPARISON*

Neolithic polished stone axe blades, manufactured with uncommon lithologies such as Alpine eclogites, jades and other HP metaophiolites, were exploited from primary and secondary occurrences in Piemonte and Liguria and dominate the north Italian and south‐east French polished stone blades used as functional tools (for deforestation and woodworking). In other European countries the same lithologies are found less frequently or only occasionally as axe blades; in north‐west Europe they were frequently used for manufacturing ceremonial axes that have shapes that are not present in the Italian Neolithic tradition. This paper undertakes a preliminary examination of the case, prevalently from a petrographic point of view, comparing the well‐established Italian petroarchaeometric knowledge with the rather poorer petrographic basis of the European eclogite/jade axes. A provisional picture of the distribution of these axes in Europe is provided and some interim interpretations and open problems are discussed.