Pamela Fragnoli

• PhD
• Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW)

This paper focuses on the ceramic industries from the Malatya and Altınova Plains in the Upper Euphrates Region of Eastern Turkey at the end of the Late Chalcolithic Period (LC 5, ca. 3400–3200 BCE). We introduce the products of these industries in their historical contexts, by connecting them with regional trends from the end of the Early Chalcoli...

In this paper, we analyzed Late Bronze and Iron Age pottery assemblages from the site of Arslantepe (Malatya, eastern Turkey) by utilizing a combination of thin-section petrography and X-ray wavelength dispersive fluorescence techniques. Following an introduction to the site and an overview of the archeological and historical evidence, the analysis...

In this paper we analyzed Late Bronze and Iron Age pottery assemblages from the site of Arslantepe (Malatya, eastern Türkiye) by combining thin-section petrography and X-ray wavelength dispersive fluorescence. Following an introduction to the site and an overview of the archaeological and historical evidence, the analysis is presented, and the outc...

Unfired and fired bricks were widely used as building materials in Antiquity across many geographically and temporally distant cultures. Studies on archaeological bricks have long focused on bricks from ei- ther an architectural or, where possible, epigraphic point of view. Only recently have bricks attracted the interest of material sciences to in...

Life-Cycle In the wake of phenomenology and postcolonial studies from the 1970s onwards, objects were considered as having a biography. As people, things can be considered to follow a life cycle (birth, maturity, death). This differentiation of phases in an object's life manifests through changes in its form, surface features, spatial location, and...

Both Archaeometry and Heritage Sciences apply natural science methods to artifacts and structures belonging to the human cultural heritage. Yet, the dialogue between these two disciplines is still scarce. On the pretext of aiming at distinct objectives—i.e., past reconstruction vs. present/future preservation—archaeometrists and heritage scientists...

We investigated Late Bronze Age painted pottery (1700-1200 BC) from Arslantepe in the Malatya plain (Eastern Anatolia) through a multi-analytical approach combining technological macroscopic observations with petrographic, geochemical and micro-structural methods. Our results evidence a strong continuity with the painted wares of the Middle Bronze...

Seemingly humble yet a rich and multifaceted resource, earth is the natural background to our life, with which it is deeply interwoven. Moreover, it represents an ancestral and genuine example of sustainability both in architecture and in craftworks. Earth-based artifacts and structures have been long object of interdisciplinary approaches employin...

This article presents new results on the Ubaid pottery production from Tell Zurghul/ Nigin (Dhi Qar, Iraq). Through thin-section petrography and comparison with edited data we identified intra- and inter-site differences in the raw material procurementpatterns and paste preparation modes employed to produce Ubaid vessels across South Mesopotamia. A...

We explore the Late Chalcolithic 3–4 to Early Bronze Age I pottery from Arslantepe by combining compositional, technological and morpho-typological analyses. The paper investigates to what extent economic and political changes affected the organisation of production in terms of natural resources, human labour, and practices. The wheel-finished vess...

In this pilot study, Late Hellenistic mold-made lamps from Ephesos are investigated by combining chrono-morphological and stylistic features with thin-section petrography and neutron activation analysis. Coeval wares of Ephesian production and clay samples collected around the site as well as published data from the Bonn database are considered loc...

Soils and sediments are among the most commonly found materials in archaeological contexts, occurring in a myriad of forms. We need only think of pottery, which is a manipulated and fired sediment, or the different earthen deposits that compose the bulk of many sites. Traditionally, the study of the microscopic and compositional characteristics of...

This paper proposes a new range of diversity indexes applicable to ceramic petrographic and geochemical data and potentially to any archaeological data of both metric and non-metric nature in order to assess the degree of craft standardization. The case study is the Late Chalcolithic pottery from Arslantepe in eastern Anatolia, ideal to test the st...

The impasto pottery found in the Recent Bronze Age levels of Punta di Zambrone (Vibo Valentia) is investigated by combining macroscopic and petrographic analyses. Structural remains of clay architecture, baking plates, cooking stands and pottery wasters are considered for comparison and as local reference material. This integrated approach allows f...

Abstract: We analysed 37 samples of pottery and daub fragments from Punta di Zambrone (province of Vibo Valentia) by combining thin-section petrography and Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) geochemistry. The aim is to identify possible production areas for some wheelmade vessels of Aegean type and better define raw materials and paste recipes for t...

This paper presents the study of two sets of Late Iron Age amphorae from the south western Iberian Peninsula through petrographic and Neutron Activation analysis. The first assemblage includes Turdetanian amphorae from the Guadalquivir Valley, studied in relation to nearby production centres. The second group comprises similar amphorae from consump...

This paper reviews the materials primarily studied by the two authors in the attempt to reconstruct the Bronze Age cultural landscape of northern, central and eastern Sicily and the Aeolian islands from the perspective of ceramic production. In particular, we aim at tracing a diachronic reconstruction of the choices made by potters and ancient comm...

This article illustrates through various case studies from LC-LBA Arslantepe (Eastern Anatolia) the advantages of applying archaeometric tools in contexts with a well-documented long-lasting sequence and a variegated local geology. Methods for a proper assessment of archaeometric data in terms of standardization and specialization level are propose...

Petrographic and geochemical data obtained on 96 samples are combined with the macro and microscopic observations on manufacturing procedures discussed above and in chapter VIII by Francesca Balossi Restelli. By identifying technological affinities and dissimilarities among Arslantepe VII vessels it is possible to distinguish spheres of production...

The process of economic centralization that took place in Arslantepe´s period VII (LC3–4: 3900–3400 BCE) led to a new organization of the pottery production. Along with a series of hand-made pots, the assemblage of this period is mostly composed by different kinds of jars, cooking pots, beakers and bowls that show a higher degree of formal standard...

This paper reports the results of the petrographic and geochemical analyses of 69 Late Chalcolithic 3 to Early Bronze Age 1b (3800–2800 BCE) handmade burnished ceramics from Arslantepe-Malatya in south-eastern Turkey. The samples exhibit a high variety of raw materials and paste recipes, which do not simply reflect non-standardized domestic product...

The Alassa Plain Wares (PW) have been the focus of in-depth studies involving a number of scientific collaborations, some of which have been published in a preliminary fashion. The aim of this appendix is to present a brief overview of all techniques used and the results obtained to date in order to define key attributes of local ceramic technology...

The petrographic and geochemical analyses of 130 Late Chalcolithic 3 (LC3, 3800 bce) to Early Bronze Age IIIB (EBAIIIB, 2000 bce) ceramics from Arslantepe and the Malatya Plain in the Eastern Anatolian Upper Euphrates have identified critical differences in raw material procurement and paste preparation, reflecting typological, chronological and cu...

This exploratory study focuses on the elemental analysis by p-XRF (portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analyser) of 62 samples of coarse wares, consisting of Bronze Age handmade burnished ware, so-called Impasto, and of Cooking ware (dated from the Roman period to Modern times). All wares originate from the site of San Vincenzo, Stromboli, and Aeolian Isla...

We report the results of chrono-typological and archaeometric analyses carried out on the EBAII–III (2750–2000 BCE) painted pottery from Arslantepe in the Malatya plain (Eastern Anatolia). According to ceramic shapes and decorative syntaxes, the EBAIII (2500–2000) was subdivided into 3 main phases with internal sub-periods. Petrographic and geochem...

An integrated microchemical–petrographic approach is here proposed to discriminate the provenance of archaeological pottery artefacts from distinct production centres. Our study focuses on a statistically significant sampling (n=186) of volcanic temper-bearing potteries representative of the manufacturing and dispersion among the islands of the Aeo...

Grazie alle ricerche condotte sin dagli anni Cinquanta del XX secolo da Luigi Bernabò Brea e Madeleine Cavalier l’arcipelago eoliano è una delle zone più riccamente indagate per i periodi preistorici e protostorici e costituisce un punto di riferimento essenziale per la preistoria italiana dal Neolitico in poi. Dall’Età del Bronzo le isole Eolie as...

Petrographic and mineralogical analysis have been carried out on 27 ceramic samples dating from the Copper Age to the Early and Middle Bronze and coming from Tornambè (central Sicily). The archeometric study allowed to observe some diachronic changes which seem to begin with the Bell-Beaker Culture. However, the analysis evidenced a certain continu...

The present work studies the production area of the pottery from San Vincenzo (Stromboli), a site with both proto-historic and historic evidences. The macroscopic observation allows to divide the ceramic fragments into Aeolian and no Aeolian productions on the base of some diagnostic inclusions. Some diachronic and synchronic differences have been...

Riassunto Questo lavoro si pone l'obiettivo di ricostruire la rete interinsulare di scambi ceramici nei contesti Capo Graziano [BA-BMII (2300-1430 a.C.)] dell'arcipelago eoliano. A tal fine sono stati esaminati 274 campioni ceramici provenienti da Lipari, Filicudi e Stromboli e 16 campioni di lave affioranti nelle vicinanze dell'insediamento di San...

Das Ziel der hier präsentierten Untersuchung ist eine möglichst umfassende Rekonstruktion des inter- und extrainsularen Keramikaustauschsystems im Äolischen Archipel (Messina, Sizilien, Italien) während der Capo Graziano Phasen [FBZ-MBZII (2200-1430 v. Chr.)]. Hierzu wurden 259 Proben von Fundplätzen der benachbarten Inseln Stromboli, Filicudi und...