Le raffigurazioni zoomorfe e antropomorfe sulle produzioni invetriate palermitane di età islamica

The aim of this contribution is to provide a comprehensive classification on the zoomorphic and anthropomorphic motifs which decorate Palermitan glazed pottery. The chronological focus is the end of the 9th – 11th century, when Palermo was under the Islamic political power and the capital of Sicily. In this period the city began producing table glazed wares richly decorated.  The repertoire of the decorative motifs refers to widespread themes in the productions of the Islamic world, even if proposes local reinterpretations.   In questo contributo proporremo una classificazione completa dei motivi zoomorfi e antropomorfi che decorano le produzioni ceramiche invetriate palermitane. Da un punto di vista cronologico ci focalizzeremo sulla fine del IX – XI secolo, quando Palermo era dominata dagli arabo-musulmani ed era la capitale della Sicilia. In questo periodo la città inizia a produrre ceramica da mensa invetriata riccamente decorata. Il repertorio dei motivi decorativi rimanda a temi diffusi nelle produzioni del mondo islamico, anche se propone reinterpretazioni locali. In questo contributo proporremo una classificazione completa dei motivi zoomorfi e antropomorfi che decorano le produzioni ceramiche invetriate palermitane. Da un punto di vista cronologico ci focalizzeremo sulla fine del IX – XI secolo, quando Palermo era dominata dagli arabo-musulmani ed era la capitale della Sicilia. In questo periodo la città inizia a produrre ceramica da mensa invetriata riccamente decorata. Il repertorio dei motivi decorativi rimanda a temi diffusi nelle produzioni del mondo islamico, anche se propone reinterpretazioni locali

Chemical evidence for the persistence of wine production and trade in Early Medieval Islamic Sicily

As a high-value luxury commodity, wine has been transported across the Mediterranean since the Bronze Age. The wine trade was potentially disrupted during political and religious change brought about by Islamization in the Early Medieval period; wine consumption is prohibited in Islamic scripture. Utilizing a quantitative criterion based on the relative amounts of two fruit acids in transport amphorae, we show that wine was exported from Sicily beyond the arrival of Islam in the ninth century, including to Christian regions of the central Mediterranean. This finding is significant for understanding how regime change affected trade in the Middle Ages. We also outline a robust analytical approach for detecting wine in archaeological ceramics that will be useful elucidating viniculture more broadly.Although wine was unquestionably one of the most important commodities traded in the Mediterranean during the Roman Empire, less is known about wine commerce after its fall and whether the trade continued in regions under Islamic control. To investigate, here we undertook systematic analysis of grapevine products in archaeological ceramics, encompassing the chemical analysis of 109 transport amphorae from the fifth to the eleventh centuries, as well as numerous control samples. By quantifying tartaric acid in relation to malic acid, we were able to distinguish grapevines from other fruit-based products with a high degree of confidence. Using these quantitative criteria, we show beyond doubt that wine continued to be traded through Sicily during the Islamic period. Wine was supplied locally within Sicily but also exported from Palermo to ports under Christian control. Such direct evidence supports the notion that Sicilian merchants continued to capitalize on profitable Mediterranean trade networks during the Islamic period, including the trade in products prohibited by the Islamic hadiths, and that the relationship between wine and the rise of Islam was far from straightforward.All study data are included in the article and/or SI Appendix

New insights into early medieval Islamic cuisine : Organic residue analysis of pottery from rural and urban Sicily

Sicily, during the 9th-12th century AD, thrived politically, economically, and culturally under Islamic political rule and the capital of Palermo stood as a cultural and political centre in the Mediterranean Islamic world. However, to what extent the lifeways of the people that experienced these regimes were impacted during this time is not well understood, particularly those from lesser studied rural contexts. This paper presents the first organic residue analysis of 134 cooking pots and other domestic containers dating to the 9th -12th century in order to gain new insights into the culinary practices during this significant period. Ceramics from three sites in the urban capital of Palermo and from the rural town of Casale San Pietro were analysed and compared. The multi-faceted organic residue analysis identified a range of commodities including animal products, vegetables, beeswax, pine and fruit products in the ceramics, with a complex mixing of resources observed in many cases, across all four sites and ceramic forms. Alongside the identification of commodities and how they were combined, new light has been shed on the patterning of resource use between these sites. The identification of dairy products in calcite wares from the rural site of Casale San Pietro and the absence of dairy in ceramics from the urban centre of Palermo presents interesting questions regarding the role of rural sites in food consumption and production in Islamic Sicily. This is the first time organic residue analysis of ceramics has been used to explore foodways in a medieval multi-faith society and offers new pathways to the understanding of pottery use and resources that were prepared, consumed and combined, reflecting cuisine in different socio-economic environments within the pluralistic population of medieval Sicily

Ceramica con decorazione a splash da Palermo (fine X – prima metà XI secolo)

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A window on Palermo between the 9th and the first half of the 12th century : study on the pottery coming from two archaeological excavations conduced in the Kalsa district

Cette thèse traite de différents thèmes liés à la production et à la circulation des objets céramiques à Palerme entre le IXe et la première moitié du XIIe siècle. En particulier le travail prend en considération le mobilier inédit découvert lors des fouilles menées près de l’église Santa Maria degli Angeli, plus connue sous le nom de Gancia, et près du palais Bonagia. Les deux sites archéologiques sont situés rue Alloro dans le quartier de la “Kalsa”, une zone où les spécialistes concordent pour localiser la Ḫāliṣa, ville princière fondée par les Fatimides en 937. L’objectif premier de cette étude est d’offrir un tableau plus systématique et plus large des productions circulant à Palerme entre le IXe et la première moitié du XIIe siècle, en affrontant les problèmes méthodologiques liés à leur étude céramologique et en proposant de nouvelleschrono-typologies de référence. L’interprétation de ces données a permis d’utiliser la céramique comme source historique, capable d’offrir nouvelles informations, même partielles, relatives à l’évolution topographique de Palerme, aux changements sociaux et aux dynamiques commerciales.This thesis deals with a series of thematic related to the production and circulation of pottery in Palermo during the 9th-12th centuries. In particular this research focuses on the unpublished ceramics found during the archaeological excavations in “Santa Maria degli Angeli” Church, known as “Gancia”, and in the Bonagia palace, both situated along the Alloro street in the Kalsa area, where during the Fatimid period rose up the palatine city called al-Ḫāliṣa (937). The main aim of this project is to offer a more systematic and larger picture of the pottery productions circulating in Palermo between the 9th and the first half of 12th century, facing the methodological problems set by their study and proposing new chrono-typologies. The interpretation of these data has allowed us to use the ceramics as an historical source, able to offer partial but new information related to the topographic evolution of the city of Palermo, to the social changes and to the commercial dynamics it went through

Ceramica con decorazione a splash da Palermo (fine X – prima metà XI secolo)

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Produzione e circolazione delle anfore palermitane tra la fine del IX e il XII secolo

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I reperti di età islamica restituiti dalle acque di Mondello.

Notiziario della Soprintendenza Archeologica di Palerm