Alberto De Bonis

Archaeometric study on terra sigillata from Cales (Italy)

Mineralogical and petrographical studies on 23 ancient pottery fragments of terra sigillata from ancient Cales (today Calvi Risorta, Caserta) are here discussed. Stamps on pottery surfaces assigned the fragments to Cales and other Italian workshops acting in Arezzo and Northern Italy area between 1 st century B.C.-1 st century A.D., other stamped fragments have an uncertain provenance. The mineralogical and petrographical features of pastes have been detected using optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, and DTA-DTG analyses. The geochemical comparisons among ceramics, production indicators of Calenian pottery (Black Glazed pottery spacers) and local clayey raw materials allowed to distinguish locally produced potsherds from imported ones. Moreover, the whole archaeological and archaeometric data set allowed to draw main technological aspects of a fine ware production much used on rich roman tables.

Effects of anthropogenic activities in a Mediterranean coastland: the case study of the Falerno-Domitio littoral in Campania, Tyrrhenian Sea (southern Italy)

The environmental status of the Falerno-Domitio littoral, a sector of the Italian south coast (Campania region) locally affected by an extensive anthropic pressure and pollution, was assessed by a multi-disciplinary approach, consisting of geological vs. biological studies. Geochemical abundance of potentially hazardous trace metals in beach sands is mainly constrained by the nature of the source rocks. Geochemical data of marine sediment quality with regards to possible heavy metal pollution and the enrichment factors of selected potentially toxic metals show that Cr and V values are higher in marine samples than in natural sources, suggesting that they are, at least in part, of anthropic derivation. A relationship between meiobenthos and heavy metals (Cr, Co, and V) has been also observed, providing a valuable biological marker to human-deriving chemical pollution. Ecotoxicological analyses confirm a relationship between enrichment in selected metals and moderate toxicity of some sea-bottom sediments closer to the coastline.

Thin walled pottery from Alife (Northern Campania, Italy)

The ancient town of Allifae (modern Alife) represents one of the most interesting settlements of the Northern Campania area and together with the ancient city of Cales , was a thriving production centre of pottery. Excavations carried out inside the city wall, near the south gate, the so called, Porta Fiume, unearthed a huge dump of thin-walled ware, where the most abundant forms were cups and beakers, decorated with grooves or rouletting. The dump has been dated late Augustan/Tiberian age and the thin-walled vessels found can be identified with similar wares from Allifae, Cubulteria, Caiatia and perhaps Neapolis. Horace in his Sermones (II, 8,39) cited the Allifana beakers (described as fictiles ac subtiles by a Horace scholiast) and they could possibly be identified with the thin-walled wares produced in Allifae. If this the case, then the thin-walled vessels produced in Allifae were known in Rome as early as the end of I century B.C. In order to investigate and characterize the Allifae thin-walled pottery, twenty-one samples were selected and mineralogical-petrographic analyses (OM, XRD, XRF and SEM/EDS) were carried out. The clayey raw material used was a low-CaO alluvial clayey deposit from the Middle Valley of the Volturno River. The potters probably handled the sediment by a levigation process in order to remove the coarser grains, and making the clay suitable to produce such thin walls. Comparison with other regional production of thin-walled pottery allowed us to strictly distinguish the Allifana beakers.

Production and circulation of thin walled pottery from the Roman port of Neapolis, Campania (Italy)

Seventeen samples of thin walled pottery from the Roman port of Neapolis (late II century B.C. - early III century A.D.) were studied in order to ascertain the type of clay and temper utilised, and their provenance. Seven samples of thin walled pottery from a homogeneous group (based on mineralogical and chemical characteristics) represent a local production of this ceramic class within the Neapolis area. This group was manufactured with a low-CaO clay, that probably derived from a weathered or alluvial deposit, together with reworked pyroclastic material (e.g., Sorrento area or Sebeto River plain) and volcanic sand from the Neapolitan area, containing both Somma-Vesuvius and Phlegraean Fields products. Two other fragments could be attributed to different Campanian production areas, such as the Pozzuoli area. Eight outlier fragments found in the port of Neapolis probably originate from extra regional production sites (e.g. southern Tuscany or the Arno valley).

Erratum to: Unglazed pottery from the masjed-i jom’e of Isfahan (Iran): technology and provenance

Aknowledgments This research was supported by the following grants: V.M. (LR 5/02 2008, 04-C00001720) and funds from the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse (DiSTAR) of the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (V.M.). Thanks are due to the following organisations of the Islamic Republic of Iran: Research Center of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (RCICHHTO) of Tehran, Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research (ICAR) of Tehran and Isfahan and Embassy of Italy at Tehran. Thanks are also due to institutions of the Italian Republic: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran in Rome, Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente (IsIAO), Centro Interdipartimentale di Servizi per l’Archeologia (CISA) and Università degli Studi di Napoli BL’Orientale^. The authors express their gratitude to the two anonymous referees for constructive comments and useful suggestions that significantly improved this manuscript. The authors also thank Leone Melluso for its helpful suggestions and Beatrice Bizzaro for the English revision of the manuscript. Finally, the authors thank Nader Akbar Mahdi, a craftsman of the ceramic workshop in Isfahan, for his help in finding clay and technical support.