Etruscan Ceramics
Under the guidance of Dr. Stanley Mertzman, Dr. Ann Steiner, and Dr. Gretchen Meyers.
Department of Geosciences and Classics, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster PA
Under the guidance of Dr. Stanley Mertzman, Dr. Ann Steiner, and Dr. Gretchen Meyers.
Department of Geosciences and Classics, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster PA
We conducted geochemical analyses to characterize the composition of a suite of 56 ceramics (9 fine ware, 35 coarse ware, and 12 bucchero specimens) from the adjacent Poggio Colla Etruscan archaeological site north of Florence, Italy. This research is a continuation of previous research and we aim to refine the current understanding of the ceramic industry at Poggio Colla by: 1) comparing and contrasting the geochemical results of different ancient ceramic artifacts at the Poggio Colla site; 2) comparing the results of this study to results reported in Weaver et al.; and 3) comparing the results of this study to local clay sediments that reported in Weaver et al.. We used macroscopic observation, petrographic analysis, and X-ray diffraction to infer the qualitative mineral content, and we used X-ray fluorescence to obtain the quantitative major oxides and trace element data of all 56 specimens. The primary mineral constituents include quartz, feldspar, micas (muscovite and biotite with minor chlorite), lithic fragments and older ceramic fragment/grog. The X-ray fluorescence geochemical data suggests: 1) most of the specimens have the same geochemical composition except loom weights, one antefix, and rocchetti specimens from the coarse ware group; 2) midden-originated specimens seem to have a higher concentration of CaO; 3) it is possible that all bucchero specimens and few other artifacts were imported from elsewhere because they had a different set of trace element data than the majority of the specimens; and 4) the provenance study was inconclusive and there might be specimens from non-local provenance.