Shapes and Meaning. The matt-painted pottery of the North-Lucanian district: culture, identity, symbols and Gender. An interdisciplinary study of a local community in Southern Italy.

Project Information

SandMan

Grant agreement ID: 892781

DOI

10.3030/892781

Project closed

EC signature date 18 March 2020

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 184 707,84

EU contribution

€ 184 707,84

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITE RENNES II
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SandMan (Shapes and Meaning. The matt-painted pottery of the North-Lucanian district: culture, identity, symbols and Gender. An interdisciplinary study of a local community in Southern Italy.)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Can shapes and decorations of ancient pottery help us gain a better understanding of the systems of exchange and communication “language” between communities that lived in the same geographical area but that lacked conventional writing systems?
The aim of the SandMAN project was to conduct a systematic study of the indigenous material culture - more precisely the matt-painted pottery – discovered among the grave goods in local cemeteries of the ancient district of southern Italy called the North-Lucanian district, an area located in today’s Campania region.
The matt-painted pottery is characterized by a variety of artistic styles that are part of identity of each different indigenous community group in South Italy. Nevertheless, the shapes and decorative motifs of the matt-painted pottery, produced by groups within the same district, show a substantial cultural coherence. In fact, the area taken into exam by SandMAN, occupied by eleven modern villages, is known in literature as "North-Lucanian culture", developed between mid-7th to mid-5th century BC. The definition of this cultural area was made possible through the observations of two main characteristics that distinguished the local communities that lived there, from the other surrounding populations: they practiced different funeral rites (they were buried in a more or less contracted position and not in supine one) and their matt-painted pottery bored recognizable symbols and decorations that identifies their particular ceramic production.
The SandMAN project proposed an innovative study that took into exam the pottery shapes and decorations of that particular production through an interdisciplinary analysis: Semiotic study of vase decorations (Goal 1), Archaeometric analysis (Goal 2), and Archaeological classification (Goal 3). This research had the aim to highlight the different roles of material culture in all its aspects (physical and symbolic): as means of communication, as “channels” for the transmissions of knowledge, as instruments for the comprehension of gender identification/distinction.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The project took place between France and Italy. During the 1st part of the project, I focused on the research of the shapes and symbols used in matt-painted ceramics through published archaeological contexts. This involved extensive work carried out in the library that allowed me to significantly expand the database I had developed during my PhD. The first results were a preliminary collection of matt-painted pottery shapes and decoration symbols that contributed the increase of information from hitherto unpublished data, thus improving the state of the art of this research domain.
In the 2nd part, Secondment, I had the occasion to add to my study new vases from the northern Lucanian area. The primary objective was to enhance our understanding of matt-painted pottery, particularly by enriching the existing database with new shapes and examples of decorations for analysis. I visited the major Museum of the Basilicata region and begin my survey in search of matt-painted pottery, both in the museum's displays and their storage areas. I expanded my database of vase shapes and decorations by drawing approximately 180 vases. This now includes 128 different shape and decoration "types" and "variants." The chrono-typological classification began with closed shapes and extended to open ones. This classification was set-up an 'open' system, that can be boosted by other scholars with data from future discoveries and researches without the need to restart the classification. For what concerns the symbols database, I was able to distinguish 62 signs and symbols used as decorations on all the vessels took under exam. These can be categorized into three groups: geometric, vegetal, and anthropomorphic decorations.
I created a selection of 48 pottery samples to be analysed in the archaeometry laboratory of the National Research Council (NRC) in Basilicata. These ceramic samples were chosen from the vases found in the sites in the northern Lucanian area. This selection is unique in the archaeological contexts of southern Italy, since no one had previously conducted systematic analyses with samples of this quality. The main results from the NRC laboratory analyses include the presence or absence of specific chemical elements, which do not necessarily indicate different raw materials used for pigments but rather a single component applied to coat the pots. Different sintering temperatures and/or kiln atmospheres were used to achieve the final color, suggesting the possibility of different workshops in matt-painted production.
The project will yield knowledge in the form of digital catalogues (vase typology and decoration/symbols) and archaeometric analyses. All data have been organized into an upcoming monographic publication. The progress of the research and the preliminary data were disseminated in 15 conferences in France, Italy, Serbia, Turkey, and the USA. Additionally, 7 scientific articles are currently under peer-review. A variety of communication activities were undertaken in Italy and France, including participation in the European Archaeological Days, museum public meetings, and high school events. Other non-scientific communication activities included an interview in the local French newspaper, the project website, my personal pages on Academia.edu and ResearchGate, and communication on the Facebook page of the Regional Directorate of Museums of Basilicata.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project aimed to verify the possibility of obtaining information through the study of the decorations on vases belonging to the matt-painted pottery. The existing knowledge, limited to the non-exhaustive data known from archaeological excavations, had hypothesized a potential regional division among the different indigenous groups but was unable to prove any clear connection between them. This project aimed to gather all available published documentation and to expand the data with additional information from previously unpublished contexts. Almost two hundred new vases were meticulously documented, including their decorations and symbols. The materials collected and the ceramic samples chosen for analysis significantly advanced our understanding of the interactions between these groups.
The project successfully demonstrated that these local community groups, residing in the northern region of present-day Basilicata, were not isolated but engaged in exchanges of goods for mutual purposes as objects from one community were found in the tombs of another, likely serving as status indicators. This was evident from both a stylistic perspective, as seen in the analysis of ceramic production, and from a scientific standpoint, with archaeometric analyses.
Among the potential impacts of the project is the possibility to replicate the applied methodology that led to these results in other similar archaeological contexts. The database of vase shapes remains "open," allowing other researchers to contribute new shapes or variants while maintaining consistency. Furthermore, the project has shed light on the possibility of a common culture in ancient Basilicata, where practices and customs, such as the funerary ritual, as well as material culture, like similarly decorated vases, were shared among these communities. This discovery offers a chance for today's inhabitants of the Basilicata region to better understand their past on a local scale.

The sites belonging to the “North Lucanian culture”

Decorative systems and patterns in different cultures, in time and space

Some decorations and signs of matt painted Northern Lucanian ceramics