Provenance and technology of Apulian Neolithic pottery

Abstract Apulia is the best-represented region in Italy as far as archaeometric analyses of Neolithic pottery are concerned. Cross-checked use of petrological (optical microscopy), mineralogical (X-ray powder diffraction) and chemical analyses (X-ray fluorescence) have been performed, in the Dipartimento Geomineralogico of Bari University, on 375 Early to Late Neolithic (from the seventh to the fourth millennium bc ) pottery samples from the Tavoliere and Murge areas. A correlated analysis of 134 samples of the main clayey deposits of the two areas was also conducted. Generally local clays were used and, in some cases, the exploitation of a range of different local fabrics has been verified. In Middle Neolithic sites, the use of non-local clay, probably imported, has been also determined. Few finished pots were actually exchanged at an inter-site scale during the Neolithic. Preparation of raw materials has shown different choices followed by ancient potters. Clays are usually more or less refined and the use of mineral temper such as sand, quartz, calcite and grog has been found. The maximum temperature reached during firing is usually between 600–700 and 850 °C. For some Middle Neolithic fine painted pottery higher temperatures have been suggested (between 850 and 1050 °C), revealing a better firing control and the use of kilns.