THE PETROGRAPHY AND CHEMISTRY OF THIN‐WALLED WARE FROM AN HELLENISTIC– ROMAN SITE AT SEGESTA (SICILY)*

Samples of Roman thin‐walled ware from Segesta (northwestern Sicily), dating back to the early Imperial period, were studied by optical microscopy (OM) and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). Up to now, this class of Roman fine tableware has only occasionally been evaluated archaeometrically. Nevertheless, numerous production centres are believed to have been simultaneously active in the western Mediterranean area. Petrographic and chemical data seem to be in agreement with the archaeological hypothesis of local manufacture in Segesta for most of the analysed samples, through a comparison with kiln wasters and local raw materials. The effectiveness of thin‐section petrography for determining the provenance of such a tiny tempered class of pottery and the integrated use of two different grouping procedures (petrography and chemistry) were also tested.     

COOKING WARES IN ANCIENT SYRIA (FIRST TO 10TH CENTURIES ad): RECONSTRUCTING THE PRODUCTION CONTEXTS FROM THE CONSUMPTION SITES

This paper deals with Brittle Ware, a cooking ware product that appears to have been highly standardized and widely distributed in Syria during the Roman and the Byzantine periods. The study intends to determine the distribution of Brittle Ware through time and space, by combining typology and a thorough examination of the fabrics in the field, using binocular microscopy (n = 2807 diagnostic fragments). Based on the fabric groupings, petrological and chemical analyses were then undertaken. Resting on an archaeological background and several analytical methods, this paper aims at going beyond a limited provenance study, by characterizing the Brittle Ware production system and thus providing some insights into the economy of ancient Syria.     

CYPRIOT BLACK-ON-RED WARE: TOWARDS A CHARACTERIZATION

Chemical analysis of Early Iron Age sherds from Cyprus and the Levant using atomic absorption spectrometry shows that Black-on-Red ware was manufactured only in Cyprus. Two types of fabric are isolated, calcareous and non-calcareous, and their technological significance discussed. The presence of trade links between the Cypriot sites of Kition and Amathus and sites in the Levant is suggested.     

MINERO‐PETROGRAPHIC STUDY OF COOKING WARE AND POMPEIAN RED WARE (ROSSO POMPEIANO) FROM CUMA (SOUTHERN ITALY)

Excavations carried out in Cuma by the Centre Jean Bérard archaeologists have uncovered a large quantity of pottery. This study is focused on cooking ware and on internal red‐slip cookware, also known as Pompeian Red Ware (Rosso Pompeiano), dated from the first century bc to the first century ad . A comparison with the minero‐petrographic composition of beach sands collected along the Bay of Naples coastline highlights the provenance of the temper from the Somma‐Vesuvius area, marked by leucite‐bearing scoriae and garnet. Petrochemical analyses allow us to distinguish two main groups of pottery characterized by different technological options based on the amount of temper and on the type of clay. X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope data demonstrate improved accuracy in the production of Rosso Pompeiano, especially with regard to firing control, which was in a prevailing oxidizing atmosphere and in a narrow thermal range, between about 800 and 900°C.     

Trude Dothan (1922–2016): In Memoriam

Abstract

This paper sheds new light on the most common type of pottery associated with advanced phases of Early Bronze I (EB I) in the southern Jordan valley: the distinctive family or group known as Um Hammad Ware, or Proto-Urban D (PUD) Ware. To date, this kind of pottery was thought to be concentrated mostly around the site of Tell Um Hammad. This study presents new evidence suggesting that this ware was dispersed over a region considerably wider than previously understood, and that the centre of its manufacture was probably in the region of western Wadi Far'ah. This paper also explores the possibility that the origins of this family are to be found in the pottery traditions of the Golan region during the Chalcolithic period.     

INTERREGIONAL CONTACTS BETWEEN TELL EN-NASBEH AND LITTORAL PHILISTINE CENTRES IN CANAAN DURING EARLY IRON AGE I*

Philistine bichrome ware from Tell en-Nasbeh, an Israelite village in the hill country, has been characterized by instrumental neutron activation analysis. A group of pottery stylistically indistinguishable from wares made in Philistia is shown to be of local origin, while other sherds match kiln wasters found in the littoral Philistine city of Ashdod. These findings attest to complex and reciprocal interregional contacts between the Philistines and the Israelites during the eleventh to twelfth centuries BC.     

STUDY ON THE PROVENANCE OF XICUN QINGBAI WARES FROM THE NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY OF CHINA

The Xicun kiln in Guangdong Province was a famous porcelain kiln in the Song Dynasty of China, and for years there has been controversy over the provenance of Xixun Qingbai wares. This paper analyses Qingbai samples from the Xicun, Hutian (Jingdezhen) and Chaozhou (Guangdong Province) kilns by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) and energy‐dispersive X‐ray fluorescence probe (EDXRF). The analytical results indicate that wares with a thin body excavated from the Xicun kiln site were produced in the Hutian kiln, and wares with a thick body were locally fired in Xicun; the contents of trace elements (V, Rb, Ba, Ta, Pb and Th) and the Nb/Ta ratio can be used to discriminate the products from the Xicun and Chaozhou kilns.     

COOKING AND PAINTED WARE FROM SAN GIUSTO (LUCERA,FOGGIA): THE PRODUCTION CYCLE,FROM THE SUPPLY OF RAW MATERIALS TO THE COMMERCIALIZATION OF PRODUCTS*

Archaeological excavation at the San Giusto site (Lucera, Italy) has unearthed a Late Antique kiln that was most certainly dedicated to the production of cooking ware. An archaeometric study of numerous specimens of cooking and painted ware found at this site was carried out using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, micro‐Raman spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma mass and optical emission spectrometry and instrumental neutron activation analysis. The integration of historical–archaeological data with archaeometric data has revealed that these specimens can be attributed to the San Giusto site. Furthermore, the production cycle of this ware can thus be reconstructed: from the diversified supply of raw materials (fluvial and marine sediments), to the relatively complex preparation of the paste, to firing at variable temperatures (600–750°C for cooking ware; 850–1050°C for painted ware).     

INSIGHTS INTO NORTH MESOPOTAMIAN ‘METALLIC WARE’*

With the aim of shedding new light on the still poorly understood North Mesopotamian metallic ware, ceramic and soil samples from Tell Beydar (northeastern Syria, third millennium bc ) were investigated using a range of analytical techniques, including optical microscopy, SR–XRD and SEM–EDX. The objective of this work was to differentiate calcareous metallic ware from non‐calcareous ware without the aid of chemical analyses and to find further validation of the existing hypothesis that the former group is an imitation of the latter. A third group of metallic wares from Tell Beydar is believed to be of non‐local, still regional origin.     

A PRELIMINARY PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF CYPRIOT WHITE SLIP II WARE*

Samples of Late Bronze Age White Slip II ware from Cyprus were analysed using optical and scanning electron microscopy in conjunction with energy and wavelength dispersive analyse The slip has a novel granular nature and the coarser aggregates are impressed into the outer surface of the body, indicating that it was applied to a moist surface before the vessels were fired. It has a consistent mineral assemblage (Mg‐chlorite + illite‐smectite + sphene + anatase/rutile ± albite) which is very similar to that of hydrothermally altered zones associated with copper orebodies in the Troodos Massif which were mined in antiquity Our analysis suggests that the raw material for the slip was not found at the ground surface, because the alteration assemblage is unaffected by oxidation and copper carbonate or iron staining. It may, therefore, be a by‐product of sub‐surface ore extraction