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October 2005 - October 2006
November 2006 - present
Publications
Publications (104)
Introduction
The present article reports on a case study aimed at improving STEAM education in secondary schools. It discusses the use of sonification as a teaching strategy to integrate music into science learning, using different approaches from data audification to parameter mapping into aural models and to the rewriting of song lyrics based on...
This paper aims at investigating lithic raw material acquisition strategies and human mobility in the Sabina region (Central Italy) during the Neolithic period through the Non-destructive Multiparametric Protocol for Chert Investigation (NM-PCI) applied to the lithic assemblage of Grotta Battifratta (Sabina region, Rieti). Despite its importance as...
Esh-Shaheinab is a landmark in the African Neolithic. This site gave the name Shaheinab Neolithic to the Neolithic period in central Sudan, becoming its archetype. Excavated in the late 1940s by A.J. Arkell, it bears witness to the processes of domestic animal introduction from the Middle East into North and East Africa. Its excavation also uncover...
Negli ultimi anni, diversi studi hanno applicato la sonificazione alla didattica e all’apprendimento delle discipline scientifiche STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics). Il presente studio esplorativo si propone di investigare il ruolo della sonificazione sull’apprendimento di concetti scientifici complessi riguardanti i crista...
ENG-ITA | Traces of the oldest human spread in the Ionian arc were found among continental erosional deposits at the highest Terraced Marine Deposits in the coastal belt. Fortuitous surface collections and subsequent surveys between the territories of Ginosa and Laterza, especially following the October 2013 flood, returned bifaces, unifacial shapi...
In the field of historical buildings, the wide use of lime as a binder in various contexts of application emerges from a series of artistic and archaeological evidence in the Apulia (Italy) from the 4th century BCE to the 15th century CE. The large availability of carbonate rocks in the geological substratum from Daunian Subappennines to Salento ar...
Lithotheques collect and exhibit raw material used by human communities for the manufacturing of objects during the Prehistory and represents an important tool of their knowledge. These collections are essential in the procuring and provenance study of archaeological lithic industries. This paper aims, firstly, to introduce SiLiBA, the lithotheque...
A photo Fenton reaction has been tested working at neutral pH in water in the removal of refractory pollutants. For the first time, a heterogeneous system was experimented, impregnating porous metakaolin-based geopolymers, obtained by using hydrogen peroxide and vegetable oil in different ratios, as foaming agents, with iron working as photocatalys...
Uno studio in corso sulle materie prime litiche durante il Paleolitico medio inferiore presso Grotta Torre dell’Alto (Nardò – Lecce) (Ranaldo et al. 2021. Ranaldo et al. 2022. Eramo et. al. 2022), ha permesso di attivare dal 2019 una lunga campagna esplorativa sistematica tra i Depositi Marini Terrazzati dell’arco ionico, tuttora in corso. I DMT (D...
The earliest evidence of bifaces in western Europe is dated to the initial phase of the Middle Pleistocene (la Noira, Notarchirico, Moulin Quignon, 700–670 ka), with the findings of Barranc de la Boella (1.0–0.9 Ma) considered to be an earlier local evolution. No transition assemblages are recorded during this time frame, and the “abrupt” appearanc...
New excavations in the lower part of the sequence dated between 670 and 695 ka by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and ESR-U-Th at Notarchirico revealed layers with lithic and bone remains attesting several phases of human occupations. Some of these occupations are located at the top of residual pebble/cobble lags along former water channels, while others are more distur...
This study presents the petrographic and chemical characterization of the frescoes in the Church of San Panfilo in Tornimparte (AQ, Italy) by Saturnino Gatti, a prominent painter of the late 15th–early 16th century, known for his exquisite technique, composition, and use of color. The characterization of the frescoes is essential for understanding...
The paper illustrates the results of a non-invasive characterisation of pigments and their mixtures in the pictorial surfaces of the wall paintings (10th century) found in the Byzantine church of Palazzo Simi in Bari (Italy). The investigation techniques included portable digital polarised microscopy, fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) and...
Devotional artworks represent a valuable form of art, as they are evidence of religious worship and the demo-ethno-anthropological, as well as historical-artistic, heritage of a community, which is why they definitely belong to the cultural identity of a geographic area. The Madonna della Croce wall painting is an example of devotional art preserve...
The elemental analysis of cherts is very important for understanding their geological history, formation and origin. In this work, chert samples collected from a mining complex located in the Gargano promontory (Apulia, Italy) have been investigated by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) using a commercial handheld (h) LIBS instrument. In o...
This paper proposed a multianalytical, non-invasive, accessible and expensive (compared to traditional ones) approach for the characterization of pictorial surfaces. A set of 18 pigments and 37 mixtures widely used in the Middle Ages in the Apulia (Italy) artistic and archaeological contexts was considered, and corresponding replicas were produced....
Grotta Serra Cicora A opens in the Mesozoic limestone of the Park of Porto Selvaggio (Nardò, LE), roughly 35 m asl. It is part of a cave system in which archaeological research about Palaeolithic has been conducted since 1960s. The "Museo della Preistoria di Nardò" has lately started a review of the collections as part of a wider project aimed at t...
The wall paintings of five Hellenistic tombs in Apulia were analysed using a multi-technique approach to discern the painting techniques used and contextualise them within the phenomenon of Hellenistic tomb painting in Southern Italy. In particular, the question was asked whether technical knowledge played a role in the reception of Hellenistic art...
This work deals with the investigation of alkaline binders obtained from binary mixtures of carbonate-rich illitic clay from deposits in southern Italy and two industrial by-products with very different total composition and calcium content, i.e., blast furnace slag and type F fly ash, respectively. To improve the reactivity, the selected clay was...
The archaeometric investigation of 46 potsherds of "Torre Alemanna type" pottery aimed to define a compositional reference group and to understand the technological characteristics of its production. Principal component analysis applied to bulk chemical data (XRF) of the ceramic body showed a strong compositional homogeneity. Their comparison with...
The introduction of agricultural practices fostered the development of specific technologies for the new subsistence practices and the production of new artefacts. Pyrotechnological structures such as ovens are part of the Neolithic equipment and accompanied the spread of agriculture from the Near East across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea. Ovens...
The discovery of a chert mining district and associated large blades knapping workshops in the Jebel Zawa (Dohuk, Kurdistan Region of Iraq) led us to investigate the Late Chalcolithic/Early Bronze Age craft practices and export of products in the Tigris region. Technological analyses of lithic assemblages in their spatial context allowed us to unde...
Northern Apulia has primary and secondary chert sources which were exploited in prehistory. During Neolithic period, on the north-eastern coast of the Gargano promontory, an important network of mines represented one of the most significant primary chert sources in the Adriatic area. However, easily accessible secondary chert sources are available...
Il presente lavoro costituisce una sintesi dei risultati ottenuti dallo scavo microstratigrafico e da un conseguente approccio multidisciplinare applicato ad uno degli ipogei dell’età del Bronzo di Trinitapoli-località Madonna di Loreto (BT), l’Ipogeo del Guardiano.
La struttura ipogeica si compone di un ingresso costituito da un corridoio a cielo...
Routine pottery analyses (optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray fluorescence) and digital image processing of polarised light photomicrographs were used to answer questions on the provenance and technology of pottery assemblages belonging to Late Acacus hunter–gatherers (ca. 10,200–8000 cal BP) and Pastoral herders (ca. 8300–4650 cal...
Notarchirico (Southern Italy) has yielded the earliest evidence of Acheulean settlement in Italy and four older occupation levels have recently been unearthed, including one with bifaces, extending the roots of the Acheulean in Italy even further back in time. New 40Ar/39Ar on tephras and ESR dates on bleached quartz securely and accurately place t...
The issue of clay processing concerns both provenance and techno-functional ceramic investigations. In the former, the compositional/textural modification of clay alters the petrofacies expressed by the ceramic body and causes a change from the raw material in terms of bulk chemical and mineralogical composition and petrographical features as well....
The present study explores the effect of activating solution concentration (4, 6 and 8 M NaOH) on mechanically and thermally pre-treated carbonate-high illite clay (LCR). Pastes were prepared with an alkaline solution/clay (S/B) ratio of 0.55, which were cured at room temperature and relative humidity > 90% in a climatic chamber. At two and 28 days...
Grotta dei Cervi (Apulia, Southern Italy) is the most important European figurative art site for its Neolithic red and brown paintings found in the various galleries of the cave. It was frequented with particular intensity between an advanced phase of the Early Neolithic (first half of the sixth millennium BCE) and continued up to the end of the Br...
Ceramics are among the most studied findings, one of the best markers for providing technological and functional information in archaeological contexts. Their chemical-mineralogical characterization allows to answer a large number of historical-archaeological questions about classification, provenance, production technologies, trade routes, economi...
The aim of this paper is to present preliminary data on the composition of the Mid-Upper Eocene chert visible in massive outcrops in the Jebel Zawa valleys, in the Dohuk province of the Northern Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Large chert nodules were systematically extracted from open-air outcrops and natural karst galleries, and employed to produce lar...
A nondestructive multiparametric protocol for chert investigations (NM-PCI) was developed to provide objective criteria for raw material procurements and provenance investigations of archaeological cherts. For this purpose, macroscopic and mesoscopic characteristics (structures, textures and paleontological contents) were used to describe the main...
During the Neolithic period, near the North-Eastern coast of the Gargano promontory (Apulia Region, Italy), an important network of mines represented the most ancient European example of systematic exploitation of primary chert sources. These high-quality raw materials were traded between prehistoric communities living on both sides of the Adriatic...
Historical-artistic heritage suffers biotic and abiotic degradation more than in the past due to the increasing environmental pollution. The process of deterioration is progressive and irreversible, and the timing and mode of impact is different depending on the characteristics of the monument (location, orientation, mineralogical and structural pr...
Ceramics are among the most studied findings, one of the best markers for providing technological and functional information in archaeological contexts. Their chemical-mineralogical characterization allows to answer a large number of historical-archaeological questions about classification, provenance, production technologies, trade routes, economi...
Digital image analysis has recently emerged as a powerful tool for the analysis of the ceramic thin sections. By producing quantitative data, it increases the usefulness of ceramic petrography to address archeological questions. Despite several works considering digital image analysis to study archeological ceramic materials, so far, no work has be...
The results discussed in this paper represent an initial overview of the Mid-Late Neolithic Serra d'Alto pottery of the Murge area. A petrographic comparison of pottery samples from various contexts (caves and settlements) demonstrate a local production in every Neolithic archaeological site considered here. The frequent occurrence of the same fabr...
The present study focuses on the assessment of the effects of different activation methods on carbonate-rich clays, to understand the mineralogical differences originated and to exploit such information to industry for traditional and innovative applications, especially as a precursor for alkali activated binders.
Illite carbonate-rich clay samples...
The paper presents archaeometric analyses (OM, XRPD and XRF) of Greek imports, Greek-type pottery, local reference materials of Orientalising Period (7th century BC) from the modern city of Policoro (Basilicata), in the area of ancient settlement of Siris/Polìeion along the Ionian Sea coast. The 34 potsherds can be divided into eight different fabr...
This paper presents the preliminary results of the study of the Early Neolithic pottery production in the Marche region, Italy (VI mill. BC). The main goal of this research is to expand the knowledge of pottery manufacturing processes associated to the typical Central Adriatic Impressed Ware, at present poorly understood. All sites under analysis a...
In Upper Nubia (currently northern Sudan), the art of making pottery has a very ancient and durable tradition, dating back to the early Holocene and preceding the introduction of a food-producing economy. Ethnographic case studies have demonstrated that this tradition has been preserved in many areas of the country. This paper presents a comparativ...
A multi-proxy record based on calcareous plankton, dinocysts, pollen, mineralogy and grain size has been acquired from the “Ideale section”, the portion of Montalbano Jonico succession (Southern Italy) that could host the GSSP for the Middle Pleistocene. The direct correlation between marine and terrestrial proxies provides a valuable indication of...
Scanning Electron Microscopy Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (SEM-EDS) is one of the most versatile analytical techniques in archaeology, applicable to the study of a wide range of inorganic and organic artefacts and archaeological materials. SEM imaging and analysis is experiencing a renaissance in all fields of archaeological studies: many research...
Bitumen was found to occur on archaeological potsherds collected from two Apulia Middle Bronze Age sites, Monopoli and Torre Santa Sabina (Italy). Bitumen from two different areas, Majella (Italy) and Selenicë (Albania), were analysed as potential reference samples to assess the geographic origin of the archaeological bitumen using geochemical anal...
Fire structures hold an important set of information concerning domestic and/or productive activities, both individual and collective, carried out within a settlement. This contribution presents a new evidence of underground ovens which were found in the ancient Neolithic site of Portonovo Fosso Fontanaccia in the Marche region, central Italy. Here...
This paper proposes the application of digital image processing of plane- and cross-polarized light photomicrographs to textural and morphometric analysis as an extension of routine petrographic characterization. The aim is to answer questions on the provenance and technology of quartz- and calcite-bearing potsherds from the Takarkori rock shelter...
This study presents the results of integrated mineralogical, petrographic and chemical analyses of different ceramic assemblages and local sediments from Sai Island, northern Sudan, dating to between the seventh and the third millennium bc, and highlights a significant variability in the raw materials and technology of these productions. Although a...
Physical properties of ceramics are affected by raw materials and production technology. If on one hand a great quantity of works on the sintering process in advanced ceramics was published, on the other hand less attention was paid to the same issue in traditional ceramics in order to infer physical properties.
A geometrical sintering model (GSM)...
The tempering of clay was a very common practice for ancient ceramists. A part from enabling a uniform drying, reducing the shrinkage during the drying and the firing and bettering the thermal shock resistance, it changes the mechanical properties of the fired ceramic. The most common tempers used by ancient craftsmen were quartz and limestone. If...
Fireboxes of two pottery structures, excavated in 2002 at Aventicum (at present Avenches), the capital of Roman Switzerland, were studied to understand their function in the artisan quarter. Twenty-one oriented samples underwent petrographical, mineralogical and chemical analyses to determine the nature of the raw materials and the temperature dist...
The tempering of clay was a very common practice for ancient potters. Apart from enabling a uniform drying, reducing the shrinkage during the drying and the firing and increasing the thermal shock resistance, it changed the thermal and mechanical properties of the fired ceramics. The most common tempers used by ancient craftsmen were quartz and lim...
Late Apulian red figured pottery [1] from Egnatia (Fasano, Brindisi, Italy) was studied in order to widen the view on this ceramic class in Southern Italy. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS) provided the samples elemental composition that allowed to make provenance hypotheses. Optical Microscopy (OM) and Scanning Electron Microsc...
Fifty oil lamps from the catacombs of 'Ponte della Lama' (Canosa di Puglia, second to sixth centuries AD) were analysed to understand the correlations existing between types and fabrics and to determine their provenance. Petrographic and chemical analyses confirmed the archaeological hypothesis of local production of the oil lamps, using fluvial de...
Ceramic physical properties are affected by raw materials used and producing cycle. If on the one hand a great quantity of works in the field of new composite materials have been published (e.g. Kingery et al., 1976, Kuang et al.,1997), on the other hand less attention has been paid to archaeological ceramic sintering and the way it influences phys...
Centre for Isotopic Research on Cultural and Environmental heritage (CIRCE) has, recently, obtained some promising results in testing the feasibility of mortar radiocarbon dating by means of an ad hoc developed purification procedure (CryoSoniC: Cryobraking, Sonication, Centrifugation) applied to a series of laboratory mortars. Observed results enc...
‘Gnathia’ pottery samples, dating back to the mid-fourth and third century BC, from the archaeological site of Egnazia (Fasano, Brindisi, Italy) have been characterised from the physical-chemical, mineralogical and morphological points of view. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction anal...
The petrographic and mineralogic study of the paving stones of a portion of Via Traiana brought to light from the archaeologists in the urban area of Egnazia (Brindisi, 2 nd A.D.) revealed the provenance and the constructive phases of the road. The pavimentum was originally made of polygonal blocks of the Calcare di Bari Fm. (middle-late Cenomanian...
Fifty crucible fragments and 10 fragments of the melting furnace of the forest glassworks of Südel (1723–1741, Ct. Luzern), were analyzed by petrographic, mineralogical and chemical techniques in order to assess the temperature reached in the melting chamber and to find out which raw materials were used to make the crucibles and the melting furnace...
Fragments of the melting furnace and several crucibles of the glassworks of Derrie`re Sairoche are compared with local raw materials. Principal component analysis (PCA) based on the chemical composition and on the grain-size distribution of the archaeological and natural materials demonstrates that the analysed samples were made from the same raw m...
Forty-three sherds of crucible found in the pre-industrial (1699–1714 AD) forest glassworks of Derrière Sairoche (Ct. Bern, Switzerland) were studied in order to determine the nature of raw materials and the technological aspects of their production and use. The samples were analysed using optical microscopy, XRD, XRF, UV–VIS spectrometry and SEM/E...
