Corte Abate Elia 2018 (Cittadella Nicolaiana, Bari): Studio della ceramica comune proveniente da un contesto urbano

This paper is based on the analysis of the found during the 2018’s excavation, inside “Cortile dell’Abate Elia” next to the Basilica of Saint Nicholas in Bari (Apulia, southern Italy). This excavation is part of the project, born in 2010, of Urban Archaeology called “Cittadella Nicolaiana” directed by Prof. Donatella Nuzzo and Prof. Giacomo Disantarosa of Università degli Studi di Bari with the collaboration of Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per la Città Metropolitana di Bari. The potteries presented in this paper are the common wares produced locally, such as achromatic pottery, painted and cooking wares. The study of this archaeological remains has greatly enriched our understanding in terms of production and settlement dynamics of the Cittadella’s area. The project has confirmed the intense building activity related to the construction of the Basilica during the Norman period and the restoration of the Bizantin’s Praetorion. Moreover, it has also confirmed an older attendance dated back to the late antiquity. The data collected during the excavation have been joined to the Apulian, Italian and Mediterranean ones at the turn of the year 1000. Bari’s historical landscape, geographic position, and presence at the center of commercial traffic with the east, allowed effective exchange of goods and cultural customs and traditional over the century.