Archeologia della produzione ceramica durante l'età del Ferro: il caso di Oppeano (Verona)

The specific archaeometric investigation (through OM and XRPD) of ceramic production of the proto-urban settlement of Oppeano (northeastern Italy) has brought to light how technology changed between the beginning of X and V cent. b.C. in a span of six centuries circa. A first chapter is dedicated to ceramic study history according to Orton et alii (1993). This to stress how the interest of archaeology has deeply changed since XV cent.: from artistic and antique to typological and then to contextual approach. The recognition of archaeometric data of several sites and of all ceramic technology indicators found mainly in the settlements and occasionally in some graves in this time span and in the area of Ancient Veneti (northeastern Italy), has pointed out how this manufacture was organised in terms of chaine operatoire: raw materials source, paste preparation, modelling, firing and distribution. The analysis has been conducted in collaboration with Department of Geoscience of University of Padua and has regarded 38 ceramic and 4 clays samples. The sherds analysed have been collected during the excavation in Oppeano and subdivided in three macro period: Final Bronze Age, First and Second Iron Age. As in several sites of eastern Po plain, the ceramic technology of Final Bronze age is characterised by the implementation of standardized pastes with high concentration of grog as main temper. These data are evident, not only in Oppeano, but also in coeval sites of the province of Rovigo and Verona. All these centres are placed in alluvial areas characterised by sandy-silty and silty-clayey deposits, and fluvial and glacial deposits covered by a thick layer of clayey surface alteration. Oppeano lies on a plateau of fluvial origin (at present only partially occupied by the modern small town), whose remarkable size is 82 ha. All data collected during extensive surveys (2000-2003) and from excavation campaigns (2003-2007) show that, on the plateau, there was widespread occupation (typical of a unitary centre) by the beginning of the Iron Age (2nd half of the 10th cent. B.C.), even though some Final Bronze Age sherds collected in several fields could anticipate the Iron Age occupation of the area. With the beginning of Iron Age (IX-VIII cent. b.C.), we register in Oppeano a small decrease in the use of grog, which slash from the VI cent. b.C. During this phase, we have an increase of number of pastes which is strictly connected to the more and more increasing social complexity, to the change of the production technique (i.e. the introduction of the wheel and the presence of fixed ceramic kiln), to the mobility of artisans, to the inner requirements and to the trade exchange with more partners. In this time span, the centre grows in extent: from a protourban dimension (about 40 hectares) in the Final Bronze age to an extension of 80 hectares since the beginning of First Iron age which persist until the fall of the centre in the V-IV cent. b.C. From VI cent. b.C. it is proved in Oppeano also the presence of Etruscan-corinthian ceramic together with products from the Euganean area (probably from Este) and attic ceramic from V cent. b.C.