A Late Roman ceramic production from Pompeii

The Via Lepanto site is one of the best examples showing how the Vesuvian region was partially reconstructed and earlier re-occupied after Vesuvius's eruption in the year 79 AD. The large amount of ceramic finds illustrates the typology in use in this area during the IV and V century AD. Analyses were focused on table and cooking ware productions. Archaeometric data were obtained using chemical and minero-petrographical methods (OM, XRD, XRF and SEM). Grain size measurements using Image Analyses on thin sections and a geochemical comparison with clayey deposits outcropping in the Campania region permitted the identification of the raw materials used for these pottery productions. XRD and SEM completed the data set, establishing the protocols used for pottery production in the Pompeii area during Late Roman period. The Via Lepanto site was part of an exchange network of markets with a periodic frequency, where locally produced and imported pottery was sold, indicating a flourishing network of exchanges spanning short, medium and long distances.