STRUMENTI DELLA PRODUZIONE CERAMICA A PYRGI TRA IV E III SEC. A.C.*

Abstract

The excavation of Pyrgi (Santa Severa, RM) has brought to light a significant quantity of black-gloss ware, which provides a means of gaining information about cults and sacrificial practices related to the final phase of occupation of the southern Sanctuary of Pyrgi, following its invasion by Dionysius of Syracus in 384 BC. The black-gloss ware has been found in connection with firing supports, misfired vases, and waste pieces: artefacts that are useful for identifying this as a hypothetical Pyrgi workshop.
Developing out from a Ph.D. project (E. Abbondanzieri) based on the analysis of black-gloss ware in the sanctuary of Pyrgi, this paper represents a review of both edited and unedited evidence relating to craft activity found at Pyrgi and a preliminary report of the archaeometric analysis (M. Daszkiewicz and G. Schneider) carried out on the black-gloss ware, firing supports, and “olpette acrome” (a local production) aimed at identifying characteristics of black-gloss ware specific to Pyrgi and to try to reconstruct the chaîne opératoire of the Sanctuary of Pyrgi between 4th and 3rd century BC.