Campania, a southern Italian region, was one of the major production centres of black paint tableware, a high-quality ceramic ware, produced with red purified clay and covered by a glossy and compact black layer. The production of this ceramic class, known throughout the western Mediterranean basin, spans the centuries from the middle of the 4th to the 1st BC. The present work is aimed to increase analytical data in the study of Campanian black paint ware, by the analysis of samples from the Sanctuary of Venus Fisica (Pompeii), dating back to the middle of the 2nd to the first half of the 1st century BC. The samples were chosen as probably produced in other Italian production centres such as Cales (Caserta), Pyrgi (Rome), Apulia and southern Lazio. A multi analytical approach including Optical Microscopy, X-ray Powder Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy is applied to investigate the mineralogical and petrographic features of these artefacts, to identify differences among samples, to reconstruct the production processes and the provenance of the raw material. Petrographic observations of microstructure, groundmass and inclusions highlight the occurrence of four petro-fabrics. The mineralogical assemblage is characterized by abundant quartz, K-feldspar and plagioclase, common biotite and pyroxene, rare fragments of siliceous rocks, nodules of iron oxides and microfossils. The occurrence of primary calcite and rare gehlenite suggests a firing temperature below 950 °C. All samples have an aligned porosity, regular thickness of the ceramic walls and spiral traces on the surface that suggest the use of the potter’s wheel for their production. Furthermore, the composition of the black painting on the surface is similar to the bulk, suggesting the use of the same pottery’s clay mixture (barbottina), carefully purified and enriched in Fe-oxides and hydroxides. Chemical investigation on specific inclusions allows discriminating samples from different production centres.
Archaeometric Analysis of Black Paint Potteries from Pompeii / Medeghini, Laura; Di Fusco, Giorgia; Mignardi, Silvano; DE VITO, Caterina. - (2019), pp. 110-110. (Intervento presentato al convegno European Meeting on Ancient Ceramics (EMAC) tenutosi a Barcellona (Spagna)).
Archaeometric Analysis of Black Paint Potteries from Pompeii
Laura Medeghini
;Silvano Mignardi;Caterina De Vito
2019
Abstract
Campania, a southern Italian region, was one of the major production centres of black paint tableware, a high-quality ceramic ware, produced with red purified clay and covered by a glossy and compact black layer. The production of this ceramic class, known throughout the western Mediterranean basin, spans the centuries from the middle of the 4th to the 1st BC. The present work is aimed to increase analytical data in the study of Campanian black paint ware, by the analysis of samples from the Sanctuary of Venus Fisica (Pompeii), dating back to the middle of the 2nd to the first half of the 1st century BC. The samples were chosen as probably produced in other Italian production centres such as Cales (Caserta), Pyrgi (Rome), Apulia and southern Lazio. A multi analytical approach including Optical Microscopy, X-ray Powder Diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy is applied to investigate the mineralogical and petrographic features of these artefacts, to identify differences among samples, to reconstruct the production processes and the provenance of the raw material. Petrographic observations of microstructure, groundmass and inclusions highlight the occurrence of four petro-fabrics. The mineralogical assemblage is characterized by abundant quartz, K-feldspar and plagioclase, common biotite and pyroxene, rare fragments of siliceous rocks, nodules of iron oxides and microfossils. The occurrence of primary calcite and rare gehlenite suggests a firing temperature below 950 °C. All samples have an aligned porosity, regular thickness of the ceramic walls and spiral traces on the surface that suggest the use of the potter’s wheel for their production. Furthermore, the composition of the black painting on the surface is similar to the bulk, suggesting the use of the same pottery’s clay mixture (barbottina), carefully purified and enriched in Fe-oxides and hydroxides. Chemical investigation on specific inclusions allows discriminating samples from different production centres.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
