The indigenous settlement of Monte Iato (western Sicily): an ethnoarchaeometric approach for outlining local Archaic ceramic productions

Abstract

An ethnoarchaeometric approach has been followed to identify the textural and compositional characteristics of the ceramic pastes produced in ancient Iaitas/Ietas, an indigenous site located in western Sicily on Monte Iato, a few tens of kilometres from Palermo. This approach was primarily motivated by the lack of discovered Archaic kilns or production sites/workshops and the inability to identify reference groups. Raw clays were sampled in the territory of San Cipirello and San Giuseppe Iato (today’s municipalities both sited on the northern slopes of Monte Iato), together with representative historic tiles and bricks locally produced until fairly recently. Grain-size analysis and experimental firings were performed on the clay samples. A significant number of archaeological ceramic samples (incised and painted indigenous pottery dating back to the seventh–fifth centuries BCE) from stratigraphic excavations on Monte Iato, and hypothesized as local productions on a stylistic-morphological basis, was carefully selected for archaeometric analysis. This set of samples (90 in total, comprising raw clays, historic tiles/bricks and archaeological ceramics) underwent a combined chemical and mineralogical-petrographic analysis to identify any possible compositional matching. This approach enabled the identification of minero-petrographic and chemical markers pertinent to the indigenous Archaic pottery produced at Monte Iato, although no evidence of coeval ceramic kilns has been found so far. Local raw clay sources have been documented and some significant points of the chaîne opératoire adopted in antiquity have been noted (clay mixing and tempering practices). Attesting Monte Iato as a centre of ceramic production and defining both the microscopic fabric and the average composition of local pastes open up new perspectives in the complex issue concerning the production and regional circulation of incised and painted indigenous ceramics in Archaic Sicily.

Chaîne Opératoires and Communities of Practice in Local Ceramic Production at Iron Age Monte Iato (Sicily, 6th-5th Century Bce)

“…The natural clay lumps have a petrographic composition analogous to that of the surrounding groundmass, although some of them differ in both colour and texture. While grog was deliberately added by the potters to the clay paste, the clay-rich inclusions belong to the clay material itself and represent portions of dry clay which enriched in oxides and organic matter during the sedimentation process as observed by Montana et al (2021).…”

“…Small amounts of dolomite were also detected in clay P3, deriving from the Inici formation which outcrops not far from the sampling point. These fabrics nd analogies with a ceramic paste de ned by Montana et al (2021) of samples from Monte Iato and mostly produced, according to the authors, with the San Cipirello Marls.…”

“…A mixing of clays as attested by Montana et al (2021) is also present although it is di cult to distinguish intentional from natural mixing. Furthermore, other textural evidence found in the experimental rings of local clays conducted by Montana et al (2021), lead us to consider that the presence of lumps of clay, even angular in shape and differently oxidized during ring, could be, at least in part, attributed to a rough handling of clay pastes. Samples of petro-fabric 3, a homogeneous group composed of six attingitoi, all belong to the monumentalized cult site of the second half of the 5 th century.…”

“…A recent ethnoarchaeometric study has allowed to establish the compositional characteristics of the ceramic pastes produced at Monte Iato (Montana et al, 2021). A signi cant number of archaeological ceramic samples (76 samples composed of incised and matt-painted indigenous pottery dated back to the 7th − 5th centuries BCE), local clayey deposits (10 samples after experimental ring) and local historic tiles/bricks (10 samples) underwent a combined chemical and mineralogicalpetrographic analysis.…”