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VII/2/2016
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homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
Greco-Italic Amphorae from the Punta Romana Shipwreck (Sardinia – Italy)
Loredana Carratoni
a
, Martina Iezzi
b
, Constantino Meucci
b*
a
Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
b
Studio C. Meucci, Via di San Tarcisio 62, 00178 Roma, Italy
1. Introduction
The ceramics analyzed come from the shipwreck of Punta
Romana that is located on the coast of Capo Ferrato
(Muravera – Sardinia) at a depth ranging from about 12 to
25
metres. The archaeological remains are dispersed over a
wide area owing to the force of the waves impacting on the
basaltic rocks of the promontory and the residual ceramics
are deeply fragmented. However, contrary to their theft
by divers and the destructive activity of the sea, several
fragments of diagnostic value may still be found among the
seabed rocks (Figure
1), often protected by the
Posidonia
oceanica
seagrass growing about the site. The possible
presence of a shipwreck is announced by the presence of two
iron anchors lying a few metres away, though yet unstudied,
while there is no evidence of any wooden remains of the hull.
Although the site has been known from some time
ago, the wreck has never been studied and its existence is
only mentioned in the list of shipwrecks pertaining to the
Mediterranean by Gianfrotta and Pomey (1981); however,
underwater exploration of the coast from Capo Ferrato to
Villasimius has confrmed that the wreck noticed by these
two authors probably refers to a Roman shipwreck with a
cargo of bricks and tiles lying ofshore the small Isola dei
Cavoli in front of the Villasimius harbor.
The survey carried out in 2011 along the coast of Capo
Ferrato (Figure
2) ascertained the wide dispersion of the
cargo and gave an opportunity to sample some signifcant
elements that referred to the same pottery typology, which
was recognizable as Greco-Italic amphorae.
1.1 The Greco Italic amphorae
The term “Greco-Italic” was used for the frst time in the
1950s by Fernand Benoit (1958) to defne a group of
400
amphorae discovered in several underwater sites close
to Marseilles (Will 1982). The studies regarding this peculiar
typology of ceramic containers started with the development
of underwater archaeology, since the amphorae are the most
abundant artefacts comprising the cargo of shipwrecks. In
particular, the Greco-Italic amphorae represent the principal
Volume VII ● Issue 2/2016 ● Pages 179–187
*Corresponding author. E-mail: costantino.meucci@libero.it
A
RTIC
l
E
I
nfo
Article history:
Received: 20
th
June 2016
Accepted: 28
th
December 2016
Key words:
amphorae
Greco-Italic
shipwreck
petrography
chemical composition
provenance
Campania
Ischia
Ab
STRACT
The remains of the amphorae cargo wrecked close to Punta Romana (Capo Ferrato – Sardinia) has been
analyzed through archaeological comparison with well-known typologies, and also by mineralogic,
petrographic and chemical analyses in order to ascertain the provenance of the ceramics. The fragments
have been identifed as Greco-Italic amphorae types MGS III and MGS III–IV produced in the Ischia
and Campania kilns in the 4
th
–3
rd
century BC. SEM-EDS analyses confrmed the origin from the
Campania region, while petrography and XRD analyses allowed two diferent production areas of the
shipwreck cargo to be ascertained, namely: the Lacco Ameno furnaces on the island of Ischia; and the
furnaces operating in the Capua district.
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container used between the 4
th
and 2
nd
century BC for the
commerce of wine in the Mediterranean area, as confrmed
by a synthetic analysis on the difusion of the Greco-Italic
amphorae in the Mediterranean basin made by Rossi (2000)
with particular reference to fnds recovered during the
excavation of the Ancient Harbour of Pisa.
As reported by Long (1987), Greco-Italic amphorae of the
Grand Congloué shipwreck can be dated back to between the
end of the 3
rd
and start of the 2
nd
century BC. The same dating
is proposed by Costantini (2011) for fragments recovered
in the excavations of Piazza Duomo in Pisa, although the
production of this peculiar typology of amphorae started in
the 4
th
century BC. However, the profle of the rim of the
amphorae from the latter two sites difers from that of the
fragments collected in the Capo Ferrato site (Figure
3) owing
to the diferent inclination of the lip.
According to several authors, the shape of the Greco
Italic amphorae modifed over time owing to their diferent
areas of production as well as their dating. The most evident
modifcations involved both the rim profle and the base,
while the body shape is quite invariant (Py
at
al.
2001).
An overview of the archaeological questions related to
these materials was provided by Olcese (2007) and the most
important ones are connected to the identifcation of their
origin (Greece or Greek colonies of the south of Italy) and
the localization of the production centres of this typology
Figure
1.
The amphorae fragments in their seabed location: a) Sample PR4; b) Sample PR1.
Figure
2.
The area investigated with the underwater survey (from Google Maps).
a)
b)
0 50 m
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of amphora. At present, many production areas have been
localized – varying from the southern regions of the ancient
Etruria to the Gulf of Naples in the so-called Tyrrhenian
volcanic belt (Cibecchini, Capelli 2013). However, most of
the production areas are concentrated in southern Italy, such
as in Campania and Sicily, according to Olcese (2012), who
recognized several interesting production furnaces on the
island of Ischia, among which our samples may probably be
located. In particular, looking at the rim shape, the fragments
from Punta Romana seem to be very similar to those of the
Lacco Ameno types MGS III and MGS III–IV dating back to
the 4
th
–early 3
rd
century BC.
Referring to this chronological and typological
framework, one of the goals of the present work is to fnd
the archaeometric data necessary to individuate the most
probable provenance of the Greco-Italic amphorae found in
the site of Punta Romana.
2. Materials and methods
The analyzed ceramics can be ascribed to the Greco-Italic
type, with peculiar reference to the MGS III or MGS III–
IV typology ascribed by Olcese (2012) to the production of
Ischia that dates back to the 4
th
–3
rd
century BC. In particular,
the fragments pertain respectively to a base (PR6), two edges
with part of the neck (PR2 and PR5), two shoulders with
part of the handles (PR3 and PR4) and the upper part of an
amphora with handles and part of the rim (PR1); all samples
are shown in Figure
4. The diagnostic fragments recovered
for documentation and sampling have been relocated to their
original places in order not to modify the archaeological
signifcance of the site.
Petrographic analysis were carried out on six thin sections,
which were obtained by embedding small fragments extracted
from the samples into synthetic resin, using a polarizing
Figure
3.
Rim types of the Greco-Italic amphorae from several sites and authors. Elaborated by the authors from Costantini 2011, Olcese 2012 and
Benoit 1958.
0 10 cm
Constantini
Benoit
Olcese III & III–IV
Olcese IV
PR 2
PR 1
PR 5
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microscope Leitz Ortholux II to obtain information on the
characteristics and mineral composition of the ceramic paste.
The mineralogical composition of the powdered samples
has been established in random conditions by X-Ray
difractometry by means of a Seifert instrument equipped
with an X-Ray tube using Cu k-alpha radiation (λ = 1.5405 Å).
The specimens were analyzed in the 2θ range from 4° to 65°
and a scanning angle rate of 0.02°/min.
The chemical composition has been obtained by
SEM-EDS, using a LEO1450VP microscope equipped
with a microanalysis system INCA 300 for quantitative
determination, analyzing (three measurements for each
sample) the random powdered samples properly compacted
on an adhesive support in order to have a fat surface that
reduces the infuence of the sample geometry and enables all
analyses to be performed in the same conditions.
3. Results
Comparing the mineralogical composition obtained by XRD
analyses confrms that the ceramics are similar in terms
of temper contribution. Indeed, quartz predominates in all
samples, while calcite remains in the minority along with
dolomite (Figure
5). K-Feldspars and plagioclases are mixed
in comparable quantities confrming that the temper fraction
Figure
4.
Diagnostic materials from the Punta Romana shipwreck site.
0 10 cm
PR1
PR4
PR5
PR2
PR6
PR3
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was probably obtained by mixing sands from diferent
origins, as confrmed by the presence of pyroxenes that come
from volcanic areas.
The composition of each sample has been better ascertained
by petrographic analyses performed on thin cross-sections.
Figure
6 illustrates the most important characteristics of the
samples, summarized in Table
1.
Figure
5.
Comparison of the random XRD spectra of the ceramic samples.
Samples PR5 and PR6 show only an optically-active
matrix containing both microcrystalline calcite and quartz,
as well as micas. Micro-fossils are also present in these
samples, confrming that the clay comes from a depositional
basin. As for their temper composition, the rocks commonly
present are limestone, generally in semi-rounded particles,
and round fragments of olivine-basalt, sometimes mixed
Table
1.
Results of the petrographic analyses. Legend: Colours indicate pertinence to the same class of component, as well as their presence in the sample.