Cencelle, a rubbish dump as a window to the past: from the mise en table to urban life between the 12th and 15th centuries

The analysis of material culture, particularly focusing on ceramics, can serve as a reliable interpretative tool for studying the originating context and the society that produced and used it. Regarding the medieval town of Cencelle (VT), established by Pope Leo IV in the mid-9th century in the hinterlands of Civitavecchia, on the Tolfa Mountains, it is intriguing to contemplate how ceramics provide a necessary framework for understanding social and economic changes throughout the chronological evolution of the settlement. This aspect is notably evident in the mise en table of fine tableware. It is well-documented, especially in the Middle Ages, that there was a tendency to make these ceramic classes sensitive and communicative, thus developing a kind of interactivity between form, function, and decoration, whereby the subject engages with the object. Building upon these reflections, the proposed intervention aims to delve into the findings from the excavation of a cistern connected to two different city quarters. The intervention seeks to present a morpho-typological study of the ceramics found in this context, with a specific focus on glazed, indigenous, and imported wares, as indicators of economic surplus, and to comprehend how they coexisted and collectively met the demands of the city market. Proceeding from the premise that waste constitutes the primary source for studying the habits, diet, daily life, and economy of a place, these materials will be analysed in their material, functional, and chronological diversity, alongside the examination of other sources, to provide insight into the daily life of Cencelle and its inhabitants between the second half of the 12th century and the 15th century.