Sorting out problems with Late Roman eastern Mediterranean cooking wares from Tarraco (Tarragona, Spain) combining archaeology and archaeometry

Tarraco was the ancient capital of Hispania Tarraconensis, a Roman province in the Western Mediterranean. It was a strategic enclave and one of the most important ports during the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity. The archaeological record of the city shows a variety of imported products arrived from...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Cau Ontiveros, Miguel Ángel, Fantuzzi, Leandro, Rodríguez Martorell, Francesc, Tsantini, Evanthia, Macias Solé, Josep Maria
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/197682
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/197682
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Ceràmica romana
Arqueometria
Petrologia
Estris de cuina
Tarragona (Catalunya)
Roman pottery
Archaeometry
Petrology
Kitchen utensils
Tarragona (Catalonia)
Segle VII-segle VIII
Descripción
Sumario:Tarraco was the ancient capital of Hispania Tarraconensis, a Roman province in the Western Mediterranean. It was a strategic enclave and one of the most important ports during the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity. The archaeological record of the city shows a variety of imported products arrived from several regions including a significant amount of eastern Mediterranean wares, amongst which there are fine, table-wares, amphorae, and coarse and cooking wares. This work focuses on the integrated archaeological and archaeometric study of these eastern types of Late Roman cooking wares from the mid-7th century to the early 8th century. In previous works, these products were classified as Aegean and North Palestinian imports. However, for some of these materials a detailed macroscopic study revealed similarities with local/regional products, opening the possibility of regional ware imitating eastern prototypes. An analytical study was carried out, applying a combination of WD-XRF and Optical Microscopy to identify their provenance. The results point to the coexistence of imported eastern Mediterranean wares and local/regional imitations. At the same time, some of the typologies identified as eastern Mediterranean products seem to have been produced locally or regionally.