Ethnoarchaeometric study of the traditional cooking ware production centre of Pabillonis (Sardinia): investigating raw materials and final products.

Abstract

Ethnoarchaeometry can be used to test assumptions in ceramic provenance studies. Within the Late Roman Cooking Wares (LRCW’s) commercialised in the Western Mediterranean some fabrics such as Fabrics 1.2, 1.6/1.7 and 1.9 (Fulford and Peacock, 1984) have been proposed to have a Sardinian origin. This motivated a specific project to explore the nature of cooking pottery on the island and the raw clays as well as the production technologies that have been used traditionally for their manufacture. In this paper, the traditional cooking pottery making in Pabillonis (Oristano province) was studied. First, a field survey in the area of Pabillonis was undertaken in order to locate the raw materials used. Moreover, representative samples from final products were also collected in a traditional workshop. All the materials (clays and pots) were analysed in order to determine their chemical, petrographical and technological characteristics. The final aim was to reconstruct the paste recipe used by the local potters for cooking vessels. Moreover, this approach can give a feedback of the characteristics of the production to be used in the study of the LRCW’s of supposed Sardinian origin.