Graeco-Italic amphorae in the region of Ostia: archaeology and archaeometry

Recent excavations carried out by the Soprintendenza archeologica di Ostia in the Ager Portuensis near Ostia brought to light a number of republican sites which are thought to be connected to the production and commercialization of salt. This region has played an important role in Rome’s history, because of the presence of the salt marshes and its strategic position on the mouth of the Tiber. The excavated contexts contain graeco-italic wine amphorae of types 5, 5-6 and 6 of van der Mersch’s classification associated with black-slip ware and local common wares. The circulation of wine and amphorae in Northern Latium in general has not been studied yet, and these excavations provide the opportunity for an assessment of the situation in the republican period (www.immensaaequora.org). The archaeometric study comprises petrographical and chemical analyses (X-ray Fluorescence WDS) chosen among amphorae from various sites. The provenance determination relies on existing databases of kiln sites of Roman Amphorae (Università La Sapienza, Facoltà di Lettere, Roma, Project Immensa Aequora; Laboratoire de céramologie de Lyon; Dpt of geosciences of the University of Fribourg)

Assessment of the amphora spectrum in a rural Late La Tène settlement at Reinach-Nord, Basel region, Switzerland

The relatively high quantity of amphorae among the ceramic material discovered in Late La Tène structures at Reinach-Nord appears quite unusual at a rural settlement of this period in NE Switzerland and warranted further investigation. How does the amphora spectrum compare to the one of earlier or later sites in the region? On earlier settlements in the area between Lyon, the Upper Rhine Valley and NE Switzerland, we find Italic wine amphorae from mainly the same few provenances in Etruria (Albinia, Cosa), Northern Campania (Falerne/Mondragone) and Pompeii. On later sites in the same region (especially the Roman colonial towns of Lyon, Augst and Avenches), wine is only one of many commodities imported in amphorae and those of Italic provenance become rare. Macroscopic classification of the amphora fabrics, petrographic and chemical analyses by XRF-WDS of 35 samples representative of fabric groups and the comparison with a large database (> 500 analyses from kiln sites, > 500 analyses from consumer sites) reveal basically the typical spectrum known for the region with slight differences to earlier as well as to later sites. These are, in comparison to earlier sites: - a smaller proportion originating from important production sites in Etruria and Northern Campania, no representation of the Pompeii region; - some ascertained imports from Southern Latium; - presence of a non-Italic fabric indicative of Spanish origin (Tarraconnensis). In contrast to later sites, Reinach still shows almost exclusively wine amphorae mainly of Italic origin and a smaller number of different provenances, comparable to the diversity met on the earlier sites (10–15 groups)

Archaeometrical study of Khmer stoneware from the Angkorian period: Results from the Cerangkor Project

International audienceIn the area around Angkor, Cambodia, several ceramics kilns dating from the ninth to 15th centuries CE have been discovered since 1995. The technical, typological and compositional characterization of their production has been one of the main goals of the Cerangkor Project. Samples of green-glazed 'Kulen-type' stoneware and non-glazed stoneware produced in five kiln sites in the Angkor region were analysed chemically by wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (WDS-XRF) and also petrographically. The data indicate that some workshops used similar raw materials for the same types of ceramics, suggesting the exploitation of the same geological formations in the whole region. Several references groups were established for each type of stoneware offering an important database for future provenance studies of sherds from consumption sites

Est-il possible de déterminer la provenance de céramiques glaçurées à décor vert et brun (Xe – XIe siècles) mises au jour en Sicile ?

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