ISLAMIC POTTERY PRODUCTION IN EASTERN SICILY (10th-11th CENTURIES): PRELIMINARY ARCHAEOMETRIC DATA ON LOCAL AND IMPORTED PRODUCTS FROM PATERNÒ (SICILY).

Abstract

From the 9th to the 11th century, Sicily has been part of the Islamic oecumene, the dār al-Islām. Up until now,

very few studies have been carried out on the centres of pottery production of this period, and most of them

concern the Emiral capital of the isle, Palermo.

The archaeometric data obtained with chemical and minero-petrographic analyses on Islamic pottery found

in Paternò – a town situated in the southwestern slope of Mt. Etna – has provided a certain number of issues

of very important matter. The selection of the samples has been made among the archaeological finds com

ing from the excavation near the church of Cristo al Monte, on the hilltop, which represented the inner part

of the medieval madīna.

The mineralogical and chemical characterization of the ceramic body has been attained using optical micros

copy on thin sections and X-ray fluorescence respectively, in order to define the probable provenance of each

sample. Further information of technological matter has been provided using X-Ray diffraction on pow

dered samples, which furnishes mineralogical data useful to hypothesise the firing temperatures: the main

task attained on this issue was the focus on the self-slipped ware with salted water, one of the main techno

logical class in Islamic Sicily. Finally, energy dispersive X-Ray fluorescence was adopted for a preliminary

investigation of pigments used to decorate the lead glazed pottery. The issues related to both the local and

imported pots – the latter represented almost completely by Palermo‟s products – provided some important

historical and archaeological information about the means of Sicilian pottery production during this impor

tant period.