Studio archeometrico su ceramiche rinvenute nello scavo di piano di comunità a Veio

The excavation of Piano di Comunità in the Etruscan town of Veii, has brought to light a pit of the preroman period, which was filled at the beginning of the IIIrd century b.C. with a huge amount of pottery and terracotta fragments. The pottery – mainly bucchero and fine creamware – is representative of the production of the archaic and late-archaic period. Thanks to the collaboration between the University “Roma Tre”, the University “La Sapienza” of Rome and the C.N.R., and thanks to the possibility of applying different methods of analysis, a comparative study was undertaken in order to bring light to the main technical features of the pottery from the pit. Samples of depurated pottery (bucchero, fine creamware) were compared in order to determine their structural clay characteristics and to better understand the organization of the workshops of the period (e.g., exploitation of local resources or choice of imported raw materials). At the same time, two imported fragments were also analysed and allowed to point out diagnostic chemical elements. Furthermore, samples of terracottas and impasto were analysed together with fine pottery samples in order to carry out a detailed study on painted decoration. The different methods applied have produced the same kind of results. As regards the choice of raw materials, analyses have stressed the peculiar composition of bucchero clay, apparently imported from some distance, whereas the fine creamware pottery show “local” features; as regards this question, sampling of clay beds in the immediate surroundings of Veii has been planned. As regards the painted decorations, the obtained data show that black and red were commonly produced using clay with higher manganese and iron contents; the use of pigments was quite rare and possibly reserved to terracottas only.