Circolazione e produzione della ceramica nei contesti Capo Graziano (BA-BM2) delle isole Eolie

From the Bronze Age the Aeolian islands play a prominent role as a strategic passage point into the southern Tyrrhenian sea. Such vitality already occurs from the Capo Graziano facies [EBA-MBA2 (2200-1430 BC)] with the emergence of new settlements on the different islands, with the contacts with the Aegean area (imported LH1/2 pottery from the 17th century BC) and with the large diffusion of ceramic of Aeolian typology in Sicily and Italy. The Aeolian archipelago represents a suitable place for an archaeometrical approach since it is formed of a specific series of volcanic rocks that can be easily distinguished from the sedimentary and metamorphic formations outcropping in the near mainland. The first archaeometric analysis carried out in the sixties by John Williams allowed in fact to distinguish the Aeolian productions from the extra-Aeolian ones and to identify the importation of clay from northern Sicily to Lipari. The present research aims, for the Capo Graziano contexts [EBA-MBA2 (2200-1430 BC)] of the Aeolian archipelago, to identify the production centres and technologies in the different islands and to reconstruct the pottery network exchanges, at an inter- and extra-insular level. To this end, 4000 Capo Graziano I-II ceramic samples from Lipari, Filicudi, Stromboli and from extra-Aeolian sites (Milazzo and Vivara) have been examined. The compositional analyses have been then undertaken on 264 of these samples, which include the thin sections collection of Williams and new material sampled during the excavations in Filicudi (Capo Graziano I settlement of Filo Braccio) and in Stromboli (Capo Graziano II of San Vincenzo settlement) and at the Aeolian Museum of Lipari. This research is based on archaeometric methodologies, that are both traditional, such as macroscopic observations and petrographic analysis, and innovative, such as mineral chemistry analysis. In particular, a microanalysis method applied on the single volcanic minerals contained in the ceramic paste allowed to identify some geochemical markers discriminating the productions of the different Aoelian islands and thus representing a base for the reconstruction of the inter-insular network exchange. The major and trace elements composition has been respectively valued with EMPA and LA-ICP-MS. The archaeometric analysis allowed to identify general tendencies in the pottery production and circulation at three different levels. At a strictly insular level, they seem to prove the existence of independent local productions on Lipari, Filicudi and Stromboli. Regarding Lipari there is a constant use of the same raw material, independently from the archaeological context which has been examined (settlement and necropolis), while in Filicudi and Stromboli a differentiated local supply of raw material has been observed in the course of time. From an inter-insular point of view we didn’t observe any importation from the minor islands to Lipari and any pottery exchange between Filicudi and Stromboli. By contrast, from the second Capo Graziano phase (1700-1430 BC) some vases were imported from Lipari to Filicudi and Stromboli. Such Liparian importations are decorated in Filicudi and mainly undecorated in Stromboli. That could suggest the existence of differentiated inter-insular exchange forms. Furthermore, it is possible to notice a diachronic decrease during the second Capo Graziano phase of Liparian importations to Stromboli. Finally, at an extra-insular level, the relationships with the external regions are consistent in Stromboli and mainly concentrated on the Calabrian Tyrrhenian coast and subordinately on northern Sicily and volcanic regions of peninsular Italy. By contrast, the importation amount is low in Filicudi and Lipari and seems to be related with a contact, preferentially established with northern Sicily. In particular, the relationships between Filicudi and Sicily are significant as demonstrated by the Filicudian production of typical Sicilian pottery and by the pots circulation from Filicudi to Milazzo. Furthermore, the importation of decorated pottery from Lipari to Vivara and of undecorated vases from Filicudi to Milazzo suggests the existence of differentiated exchange forms also from an extra-insular point of view. Last but not least, the results evidenced the existence of production and imitation of foreign pottery both in Aeolian (filicudian production of typical Sicilian pottery) and extra-Aeolian (production of Capo Graziano pottery, also decorated, in Sicily and Calabria) contexts.