Dipartimento di Biologia, Ecologia e Scienze della Terra - Tesi di dottorato

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Questa collezione raccoglie le Tesi di Dottorato afferenti al Dipartimento Dipartimento di Biologia, Ecologia e Scienze della Terra dell'Università della Calabria.

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    Studio archeometrico di ceramiche rinvenute a Pompei (scavi I.E. 1980-81): provenienza e tecnologia di produzione
    (2013-11-04) Scarpelli, Roberta; Pantano, Pietro; De Francesco, Anna Maria; Cottica, Daniela
    The following work focuses on the archaeometric characterization of different pottery classes found in Pompeii during the I.E. excavations in 1980-1981. These investigations, carried out in the western part of the Forum, during the installation of the electric cables (I.E.= impianto elettrico), revealed numerous useful materials for the reconstruction of the first stages of the city. The ceramic, is certainly the most attested material and its study, allows to obtain archaeological information on many aspects of the past, as chronology, trade and technology. The analyzed ceramics, were selected by three major groups: common ware, black-glaze pottery and votive material. The choice of the samples was not random, because these ceramics classes were widespread in everyday life and in the ancient Mediterranean trades. Archaeometric study aimed to investigate ceramic samples to obtain information related to tthe Pompeii production, its social organization and the possible exchanges of finished objects. The results allow us to reconstruct ancient trades, in which Pompeii was great protagonist. The common ware, including cooking ware (jars and pots) and plain ware (jars and bottles), is certainly the most attested production. The great variability of shapes and fabric, in particular for cooking ware, suggested a wide diffusion, in Pompeii, of products, not only of local production. The first part of the study involved the petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical characterization of local cooking ware and dated in a wide time span (IV-I century BC). The petrographic comparison between two groups, dating to IV-III century BC and II-I century BC, evidenced, the presence of same mineral phases and fragments of volcanic rocks, related to Somma-Vesuvius activity. The differences, between two groups, were related to higher content of the coarse fraction for younger products (II-I century BC), suggesting changes in the production technology. We could hypothesize the use of non-calcareous clay with the addition of temper for the production of the oldest ceramic and the employment of weathered volcanic deposits for the later typology. Technological differences related to firing temperatures, are also showed. The presence of micas and hematite, detected by XRD analysis, indicates firing temperatures ranging between 800-900°C for both groups (Riccardi et al., 1999 and Cultrone et al., 2001). A greater variability was found in the II-I century BC group in which the absence of micas, in some samples, allowed to indicate slightly higher temperatures. The second part of the research focused on the comparison of II-I century BC pottery with two coeval groups of pottery (called group c and group d), characterized by the same ceramic form but with a different fabric. The petrographic analysis distinguished a volcanic fabric for a group c and a granitic fabric for the group d. For the latter one, considering the different geological characteristics of the Campanian area, it’s possible to indicate as possible provenance area, Calabria and Sardinia. However further analysis are necessary to confirm these hypotheses. From the mineralogical point of view, group c showed a temper similar to the local group (group b). Plagioclase, sanidine, clinopyroxenes, amphibole, biotite and a large amount of volcanic rock fragments, were observed in both groups. The differences are related to the increased presence and variability of clinopyroxenes in the group b and on the contrary of higher content of sialic minerals (plagioclase, sanidine and quartz) in group c. In group b, the quartz was detected only by XRD analysis. On the basis of petrographic characteristics, it is not possible to exclude the local origin for the group c, while the different chemical composition detected by XRF analysis does not allow to advance other hypotheses. In general, the mineralogical association, plagioclase, sanidine and pyroxene, is very common in volcanic areas, both in the Campanian magmatic Province (Somma-Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei and Roccamonfina) and in the Roman co-magmatic Province (Vulsini, Vico and Sabatini) characterized by similar volcanism (KS and HKS). The Alban hills are excluded because the products do not contain plagioclase and sanidine (Gaeta et al., 2006). Anyway, the traditional comparison with local raw materials, to have indications of provenance, is particularly difficult and not very useful, considered the coarser fabric of the ceramics. Therefore micro-analysis on individual volcanic phases (clinopyroxenes), were performed on the pottery wares. This method was considered as a good discriminant tool in recent works (Comodi et al., 2006; De Rosa et al., 2007, Barone et al., 2010). The clinopyroxenes of the ceramics in groups b and c were compared with clinopyroxenes of igneous rocks of the Campanian volcanic districts (Somma-Vesuvius and Roccamonfina) and Roman districts (Vulsini, Vico and Sabatini). The pyroxenes analyzed in both ceramics and rocks, were classified on the basis of Morimoto et al.,1988, as diopside. Some trace elements: V, Sr, Zr, Y and REE (rare earth), detected by LA-ICP-MS, were selected to discriminate each group of ceramics, the pyroxenes of the Roman co-magmatic Province and of Campanian magmatic Province. The comparison between the pyroxenes of ceramics with those contained in the rocks, by statistical processing (binary diagrams and multivariate analysis, PCA) confirms the compositional similarity between the pottery of group b (considered local production) with pyroxenes of Somma- Vesuvius and Roccamonfina, and the similarity of the group c with pyroxenes of Roman districts. Therefore this method, was perfectly valid in this study, because allowed us to confirm the locally provenance for the group b and to exclude it for the group c. Moreover, a possible area of origin for the group c was also suggested. The black glaze pottery is dated in a wide time span (IV -I century BC) and it was considered on the basis of archaeological evidence (presence of misfired potteries and furnace spacers) of local production. The possible furnace of production is not been found yet and the archeological attribution of the provenance, on the basis of the very fine fabric, did not give sure information. For this reason, archaeometric analyzes were performed in order to investigate local productions and to clarify the technological changes for over three centuries. Two different groups of ceramics dated to the IV-III century BC and II-I century BC were selected for the analysis. No compositional differences were detected by petrographic and chemical (XRF) analysis. Conversely, the study on black glazes by SEM/EDS and by Raman microscopy (performed at the Department of Chemistry, University College London, UCL), evidenced mineralogical and morphological variations clearly due to a different control of the firing conditions. The early ceramic samples (4th–3rd century) are characterized by a sintered coating in which small crystals of iron oxide content are widespread. Magnetite, hematite and hercynite represent the mineralogical phases recognized by Raman microscopy. The later production is characterized by a completely vitrified glaze containing only magnetite. The differences are due, probably, to the different firing practice, in particular as regards the reducing step, that is, the values of the temperature and period of duration of this phase and the cooling rate (Scarpelli et al., 2014). Finally, in order to confirm the local origin, the possible raw materials used for the production of this ceramic class, were sampled and compared chemically by binary diagrams. On the basis of archaeological indications (Peña and McCallum, 2009) and the geological characteristics of the studied area, clayey materials were individuated in the Salerno province, at Ogliara and at Montecorvino Rovella. These calcareous clayey sediments (15% of CaO), belonging to the Mio- Pliocene sedimentary sequence of the basin of Salerno, show a large compositional similarity with the analyzed ceramics, confirming the hypothesis of Peña and McCallum. Petrographic comparison with the experimental tests of clay fired at 900 °C, confirms these similarities and a greater depuration for the oldest group of ceramics. These results allowed to attest, for the first time, a Pompeii production of black glaze ceramic that, could be considered as reference group; secondly these suggested some considerations relating to the management of ancient quarries in the area of Salerno, which were probably used by potters in a quite extensive area. The study on the votive material is in a preliminary phase yet. Thymitheria, figurines and miniature vessels, characterized by different forms and fabric, were analyzed. On the basis of archaeological assumptions these materials could be considered as local production of workshops (not yet identified) for devotees. Petrographic analyzes have confirmed the compositional differences between the three groups but also inside the same group, and allowed us to indicate the employment of more raw materials (fine clays, clays and volcanic temper, weathered volcanic deposits) for these products. These results could ascertain the presence of more ceramic ateliers specialized in the production of different potteries or, simply, verify the supplying of clayey materials from different sources in the Vesuvian area.
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    Approccio metodologico per lo studio di malte ed intonaci archeologici del Mediterraneo
    (2013-11-04) De Luca, Raffaella; Pantano, Pietro; Crisci, Gino Mirocle; Miriello, Domenico
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    Studio integrato di icnologia e sedimentologia delle formazioni di Stilo-Capo d'Orlando e Saraceno (Oligo-Miocene, Calabria ionica)
    (2013-11-27) Caruso, Claudia; Sonnino, Maurizio; De Rosa, Rossana; D'Alessandro, Assunta
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    Indagine archeometrica delle ceramiche rinvenute sul Timpone della Motta di Francavilla Marittima (CS)
    (2014-04-10) Andaloro, Eliana; Russo, F.; De Francesco, A.M.; Jacobsen, J.K.
    In this work, we focus on the archaeometric characterisation of some pottery remains dated to the 8th and early 7th centuries BC. The examined sherds come from the excavations carried out by the Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA) on the acropolis of the Timpone della Motta archaeological site, located near the well-known Greek colony of Sybaris (Calabria, southern Italy). The site of Timpone della Motta and the surrounding area is one of the key points for study of cultural and material development in southern Italy between 800 and 510 BC; the site is located, near the modern village of Francavilla Marittima (province of Cosenza, Calabria), 11 km inland from the sea and 12 km north of the Greek Apoikia of Sybaris. Here, traces of the first settlement date back to the Middle Bronze Age, but the site did not gain any substantial importance until the early 8th century BC, when it developed into a place of worship for the indigenous Oinotrians. Later, following the founding of the Achaean Apoikia of Sybaris, in the last quarter of the 8th century BC, the site became a mixed indigenous and Greek sanctuary. The ample and varied nature of contextual evidence from the site provides insights into the development of religious and mortuary practices, domestic life, and the manufacturing processes applied to pottery and other objects within the indigenous community (Jacobsen, 2007). The material culture found in the sanctuary on the top of Timpone della Motta is most interesting, since it includes large numbers of various pottery groups of Greek, regional and local origin which were in use in the sanctuary for more than two centuries. However, in order to evaluate the significance of the individual classes of pottery, their provenance needs to be better understood. A first step in this direction was to clarify which pottery classes were produced locally at Timpone della Motta. We focus here on five ceramic classes frequently found in the sanctuary: a) impasto pottery; b) matt-painted pottery; c) Oinotrian-Euboean style; d) colonial ware (hydriskai); e) Sub-Thapsos pottery. The impasto ceramic, from a functional point of view, in Southern Italy was used in the early Iron Age mainly for the production of tableware, fire ware and a series of common use containers. Following several decades of excavations and research in the Sibaritide area and in southern Italy, it seems clear a regional and interregional movement of impasto pottery. In the present work it was studied a group of impasto fragments in order to detect the possible presence of a differentiated production. The thirtyfive fragments represent all the various pastes that, macroscopically, appear to be the most common in the impasto ceramic from the Timpone della Motta. Indigenous matt-painted pottery was produced in several Southern Italian sites throughout the Iron Age. The vessels are either hand-made or formed on a slowly rotating device and decorated with indigenous mono- or bi-chrome motifs. The wide range of indigenous shapes demonstrates that this class of pottery was used as tableware and for household and storage purposes. Twentyfive fragments from two stylistic groups within the matt-painted samples were selected for analysis: i) Undulating Band Style, and ii) Fringe Style. Both groups are dated to the 8th century BC and their distribution is mostly limited to the Timpone della Motta area, and hence normally regarded as locally produced. Recent research has, however, documented a notably different group of Matt-Painted pottery on the Timpone della Motta, which display a high level of craftsmanship in being very thin-walled and decorated in a miniaturist style very close to the Matt-Painted pottery productions in the southern Salento region. In order to evaluate the probable contacts between indigenous groups in the Sibaritide and indigenous groups in the Salento area, ten fragments of Salentine pottery has been submitted for analysis with the purpose of compare its compositional characteristic with that of the matt-painted pottery of the local styles and with the local raw materials. The Oinotrian-Euboean group is contemporary with the matt-painted pottery and it is also assumed to have been locally produced. Unlike the traditional indigenous matt-painted ceramics, the Oinotrian-Euboean pottery was produced on a fast rotating potter’s wheel and the shapes and decorations of this vessels are clearly recognisable as Greek. Their production is considered as evidence of the presence of Greek potters who lived and worked within the indigenous settlement near Timpone della Motta from the first half of the 8th century BC. The identification of this material group is of high scientific importance not only for the archaeology of the Sibaritide but for the archaeological understandings of the social, economical and cultural developments in southern Italy during the 8th century BC. However, in order to evaluate the cultural and historical implications, it is very important to clarify if the Oinotrian-Euboean pottery was produced in Francavilla Marittima, therefore ten fragments of Oinotrian-Euboean style pottery were selected for analytical study. Abstract III The fourth pottery class refers to the so-called “Colonial ware”, a term generally used for pottery assumed to have been produced in the Greek colonies. Specifically, our study focused on the many specimens of hydriskai in the sanctuary. The hydriskos, a miniature version of the Greek hydria (water jug), is a wheel made of finely purified clay and generally decorated with horizontal lines and wavy bands, although elaborate floral motifs are also occasionally found. Hydriskoi began to be used in the sanctuary in the late 8th century BC and became the most frequently used vessels during the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Fifteen hydriskos fragments (five of which are over-fired) were examined here. The Sub-Thapsos pottery are imitating Corinthian Geometric pottery of the so called Thapsos class. On the Timpone della Motta this type of pottery has been excavated in archaeological layers dating to the first quarter of the 7th century BC. In southern Italy imitations of Thapsos pottery is found in several locations and it is normally assumed that it was produced locally. It is therefore also of relevance to investigate if a local production imitating Thapsos vessels was taking place in Francavilla Marittima. For this purpose the characteristics of the sub-Thapsos pottery will be compared with that of other ceramic class. All the sherds were examined by means of an integrated analytical approach, including petrographic, mineralogical and chemical investigations. Petrographic thin-section descriptions of samples were made following the scheme proposed by Whitbread (1995), which facilitates detailed characterisation of pottery in terms of microstructure, groundmass and inclusions. Mineralogical characterisation was carried out by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The chemical composition of all samples, in terms of major, minor and trace elements, was determined on pressed powder pellets by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF); loss on ignition (L.O.I.) was gravimetrically estimated after overnight heating at 950° C and FeO content by wet titration. Multivariate statistical analysis of chemical XRF data was also carried out. Micro-morphological analyses by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the freshly fractured surfaces of all sherds were performed for detailed study of groundmass microstructure and, in particular, of the degree of vitrification. For this aim, the comparative vitrification stages of Maniatis and Tite (1981) were used. Clay sediments from the area around Timpone della Motta, possibly representing raw materials used for local pottery production, were sampled for comparison with the pottery. E. Andaloro IV A first sampling was carried out near the modern town of Francavilla Marittima, in a small outcrop of Miocene clays poorly stratified; in this area were collected 6 samples of clayey materials. Seven samples were taken from the clay intercalation in the outcrops of Pleistocene sands and conglomerates. Were also collected six samples of alluvial clays along the river of Torrente Raganello. Finally, specimens were taken from a large Pliocene clay outcrop, near the modern town of Lauropoli, about three kilometers from the Timpone della Motta site. A total of 15 samples was taken to represent the variation in the entire outcrop; in addition, five samples were collected from an old quarry (not directly belonging to the outcrop but representing a lateral extension of the same layer), located nearby and used for brick production until as little as ten years ago. The mineralogical, chemical and granulometric characterisation of the sampled clay sediments was carried out; the granulometric separation of clay, silt and sand fractions was obtained by sedimentation, according to the method of Dell’Anna and Laviano (1987). To establish pottery firing temperatures, firing tests were carried out on the collected clay samples. One test was prepared for each sample and fired to 950°C, in electric kiln; on each test thin section and diffractometric analysis was carried out. Petrographic observation of impasto pottery found on Timpone della Motta showed a similar composition of the non-plastic fraction in most samples, characterized by sedimentary rock fragments. The presence of grog in three samples shows a small difference in the production technology. Only one sample (LUO10) is very different from the other sherds; the absence of sedimentary rock fragments in the aplastic fraction of this sample suggests, therefore, a different production. The combined information of XRD data and micro-morphological observations by SEM yielded a rough estimate of firing temperatures. Specifically, as the XRD spectra revealed the occurrence of calcite, and SEM analysis didn’t highlighted vitrification microstructures, temperatures lower than 800° C are suggested for all impasto samples. The comparison with the raw materials suggests the use of Miocene sediments for the production of the impasto pottery, but with addition of quartz-rich sand that could came from rivers of Upper Ionian province. Regarding the fine ceramic groups, the optical microscopy demonstrated that the groups of Matt-painted ( “Undulating band” and “Fringe” styles), Oinotrian-euboean, colonial-ware and Sub-Thapsos pottery from Timpone della Motta are characterised by similar petrographic features, all being very fine-textured with only a few small aplastic Abstract V inclusions. In addition, although they are very similar to each other, thin-section observations did highlight some small differences only between the Colonial-ware and Sub-Thapsos group and the other two classes. Specifically, the amorphous concentration features (Acf), mainly consisting of red nodules of isotropic material, which was higher in the hydriskai and Sub-Thapsos samples. The “salentine” matt-painted pottery instead show very different petrographic characteristics, compared to the other ceramic groups. In this class, in addition to the minerals detected in the other fragments, the wairakite mineral was found. According to Maggetti and Heimann (1979) this mineralogical phase could be an alteration product of gehlenite, or of the glassy phase (Deer et al, 1966). The similarity between the chemical compositions of the matt-painted pottery (local styles) and Oinotrian-euboean ceramics could implies their production with the same raw materials; only the sample Oinotrian-euboean 102 shows compositional differences compared to the other fragments. The chemical data for the hydriskai and Sub-Thapsos group showed greater variability, together with some small differences (such as their higher Fe2O3 and MgO contents), with respect to the other two groups. As regards technological features, the combined information of XRD data and micromorphological observations by SEM yielded a rough estimate of firing temperatures. Specifically, as the XRD spectra revealed the occurrence of newly formed Ca-rich phases, and SEM analysis highlighted often extensive vitrification microstructures, temperatures higher than 850° C are inferred for almost all examined samples (Peters and Iberg, 1978; Maniatis and Tite, 1981; Maggetti, 1982; Mazzoleni and Pezzino, 2001; Gliozzo et al., 2005). The few exceptions are represented by the samples 5x and SM16 which show the exclusive presence of abundant calcite and the total lack of any newly-formed phase, thus indicating a temperature lower than 800°C. Concerning the five over-fired hydriskai, the presence of magnetite and cristobalite (Heimann and Maggetti, 1979) along with a continuous degree of vitrification and small and medium-sized bloating pores, allow to estimate a firing temperature higher than 1050°C. The chemical comparisons with the Pliocene and alluvial clay sediments outcropping near Timpone della Motta, which may represent the potential raw materials used for pottery manufacture, allow some general considerations concerning the production area. The E. Andaloro VI studied ceramics, in particular the local styles matt-painted and Oinotrian-Euboean groups, are compositionally similar to both the sampled local clays. The composition of “Salentine” matt-painted pottery is completely different from the collected clayey materials, so very probably, they were not locally produced. The comparison, by optical microscopy, between the fine ceramics and the thin sections of firing tests showed a great similitude with the matrix of the Pliocene clay tests; in addition, only in these firing tests the XRD analysis evidenced diopside and hematite formation, also found in most of the ceramics. The extensive outcrop of Pliocene clay sediments near the archaeological site may explain the large-scale production of pottery ware in this area and, in particular, the great numbers of matt-painted and Oinotrian-Euboean specimens brought to light during excavations. However, in general, the sherds are slightly richer in SiO2 and poorer in CaO than the local clays. These small differences may be explained by the purification process which the raw materials undergone, consisting in the removal not only of larger grains but also of calcareous fossils, quite commonly found. Such a technological process may explain the calcium decrease and the indirect silica increase in the worked clays (Kilikoglou et al., 1988; Fabbri, 1996). The chemical data for the hydriskoi and Sub-Thapsos highlighted greater variability with respect to the other two groups and to the local clays, together with some small differences (such as their higher Fe2O3 and MgO contents). This could mean that this ceramic type was not locally produced or, alternatively, that Feand Mg-enriched clay layers, possibly occurring in Pliocene outcrops nearby the archaeological site, were used to produce this type of pottery, or could be hypothesized that the amorphous nodules were intentionally added. In this case, local production might also be hypothesised for this groups.
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    La cenere basaltica: micro-tessiture e dinamiche eruttive
    (2014-04-04) Cannata, Chiara Benedetta; Russo, F.; Donato, P.
    This work is focused on micro-scale textural observations on ash particles, erupted from ordinary activity at Stromboli volcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy). Ash samples were collected during three sampling campaigns: 1-5 September 2008, 20 and 22 September 2008, and 18 June 2009, during which two sampling methods have been adopted: collection on a clean surface downwind and remotely controlled, electrically propelled aeromodels, penetrating directly in the eruptive plume and collecting ash samples that are less affected by transport-related sorting processes. Ash from individual explosions have been characterized in terms of quantitative proportion of principal ash components, textural, morphological and chemical features. A micro-textural approach has been conducted, working at step: from preliminary observation under binocular microscope on a medium number of 700 particles, to thin section observations, to sub-micron investigations, using high resolution instruments. Micro-texture and morphology of ash particles were observed under FE-SEM, at high magnification (30.000/100.000 X). On each particle we measured the main shape parameters (area, perimeter, max length, compactness, Feret’s diameter, Heywood’s diameter and elongation) and chemical-surface features. Ash is composed of two main type of fragments: one opaque, black coloured, micro- to crypto-crystalline, poorly or non-vesiculated with regular shapes, called “Type a” fragments, and the other one, transparent, lightly brown to yellow, red to brown; sub-aphyric to porphyric, showing large micro-phenocrystals of plagioclase and pyroxene; highly vesiculated, with irregular shapes, sometimes fluidal and showing shards morphology, called “Type b”. Rarely porphyric to vitric fragments (“Type c”), with reddish colors and vesicles inside are present and also a few single crystals of plagioclase, pyroxene and olivine (“Type d”). At persistent activity volcanoes is not easy to distinguish juvenile from lithics so in this work we decided to adopt a new nomenclature of ash particles without a priori interpretation. “Type a” show great similarities with the well known tachylite particles, while “type b” fragments are very similar to the sideromelane ones, the two types of fragments representing end-members of a continuous spectrum. Abundant “type a” fragments for example, show fluidal shapes, reddish colors and micro-phenocrystals of plagioclase and pyroxene; while “type b” fragments show brownish colors and porphyric structures. These fragments are so called “type a1” and “type b1”, respectively. A great heterogeneity does exists among ash constituents erupted from three different active group of vents. Component analysis of principal constituents well discriminate between ash erupted from three group of vents sampled in September 2008 and June 2009 and also ash from May and September 2002, used here as a comparison for the componentry of ash erupted during the ordinary activity. Morphological and chemical analysis showed that the fragments have slightly different morphologies and are all subject to alteration phenomena and precipitation of minerals of neo-formation on their surfaces. The alteration is dependent from the atmospheric conditions around the vent and not from the type of fragments. Ash erupted from individual explosions, during the periods of sampling doesn’t show any differences in morphology and chemistry of surface features, but only in terms of proportion of components. “Type b” fragments (sideromelane) predominate in the ash erupted from typical strombolian activity. During the ordinary activity at Stromboli is confirmed that in the shallow conduit of Stromboli, a magma with two different texture features does exist.