CAMPANIAN WINE FOR PUNIC SICILY: PETROGRAPHIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDIES OF GRAECO-ITALIC AMPHORAE FROM PALERMO

Abstract

This contribution proposes a combination of archaeological fabric analysis and petrographic research ap

plied to the study of 35 sherds of Graeco-Italic amphorae mostly found in Palermo, but also in Pantelleria

and Malta (Tab. 1). The provenance identification derived from both approaches gives evidence for the arri

val, in North-Western Sicily, of presumable wine amphorae from central-Tyrrhenian Italy since the very late

4th century BC. The production of the majority of the material has been confidentially attributed to the area

of the Gulf of Naples/Ischia, but a second large group originates from several, still unidentified production

sites to be located along the coastal strip of Campania or Lazio. Interestingly, apart from this dominating

Italian assemblage, two amphorae match the petrographic finger-print of raw materials of the Eastern

Nebrodi/Calabrian-Peloritani arc. The documentation of large quantities of 3rd century-BC Tyrrhenian

Graeco-Italic amphorae in Palermo together with single sherds from North-Eastern Sicily testify to the im

portance of the commercial axis connecting the Campanian production sites with the most important con

sumption areas located in Carthage‟s epikrateia in Western Sicily.