Bronze Age pottery from the Aeolian Islands: Definition of Temper Compositional Reference Units by an integrated mineralogical and microchemical approach

Abstract

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 Aeolian Archipelago during the Bronze Age. The widespread establishment of new settlements and the abundant recovery of Aeolian-made ceramic in southern Italy attest for the increased vitality of the Archipelago during the Capo Graziano culture (Early Bronze Age–Middle Bronze Age 2; 2300–1430 BC). Potteries from three of the main known ancient communities (Lipari, Filicudi and Stromboli) have been studied integrating old collections and newly excavated material. Volcanic tempers have been first investigated through multivariate analyses of relative abundances of mineral and rock clasts along with petrographic characters. In addition, we performed in-situ mineral chemistry microanalyses by Electron Microprobe and Laser Ablation—Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry to assess major and trace element composition of the most common mineral phases.
Four Temper Compositional Reference Units have been recognised based on compositional trends. Two units (AI and AX) are unequivocally distinct by their peculiar trace element enrichment and petrographic composition; they mostly contain samples from the sites of Lipari and Stromboli, respectively. Units AIV and AVIII, restricted to the sites of Filicudi and Stromboli, show distinct petrographic characters but overlapped geochemical fingerprints.

Full text

Appl Phys A
DOI 10.1007/s00339-013-7775-3
Bronze Age pottery from the Aeolian Islands: definition of Temper
Compositional Reference Units by an integrated mineralogical
and microchemical approach
D. Brunelli ·S.T. Levi ·P. Fragnoli ·A. Renzulli ·
P. Santi ·E. Paganelli ·M.C. Martinelli
Received: 13 April 2013 / Accepted: 11 May 2013
© The Author(s) 2013. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract An integrated microchemical–petrographic ap-
proach is here proposed to discriminate the provenance of
archaeological pottery artefacts from distinct production
centres. Our study focuses on a statistically significant sam-
pling (n=186) of volcanic temper-bearing potteries rep-
resentative of the manufacturing and dispersion among the
islands of the Aeolian Archipelago during the Bronze Age.
The widespread establishment of new settlements and the
abundant recovery of Aeolian-made ceramic in southern
Italy attest for the increased vitality of the Archipelago dur-
ing the Capo Graziano culture (Early Bronze Age–Middle
Bronze Age 2; 2300–1430 BC). Potteries from three of
the main known ancient communities (Lipari, Filicudi and
Stromboli) have been studied integrating old collections
and newly excavated material. Volcanic tempers have been
first investigated through multivariate analyses of relative
abundances of mineral and rock clasts along with petro-
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article
(doi:10.1007/s00339-013-7775-3) contains supplementary material,
which is available to authorized users.
D. Brunelli ()·S.T. Levi ·P. Fragnoli ·E. Paganelli
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università degli
Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, P.zza S. Eufemia 19,
41100 Modena, Italy
e-mail: daniele.brunelli@unimore.it
S.T. Levi ()
e-mail: saratiziana.levi@unimore.it
A. Renzulli ·P. Santi
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, della Vita e dell’Ambiente,
Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”, Via Cà Le Suore 2/4,
61029 Urbino, Italy
M.C. Martinelli
Parco Archeologico delle Isole Eolie, Museo Archeologico Luigi
Bernabò Brea, 98055 Lipari, ME, Italy
graphic characters. In addition, we performed in-situ min-
eral chemistry microanalyses by Electron Microprobe and
Laser Ablation—Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spec-
trometry to assess major and trace element composition of
the most common mineral phases.
Four Temper Compositional Reference Units have been
recognised based on compositional trends. Two units (AI
and AX) are unequivocally distinct by their peculiar trace
element enrichment and petrographic composition; they
mostly contain samples from the sites of Lipari and Strom-
boli, respectively. Units AIV and AVIII, restricted to the
sites of Filicudi and Stromboli, show distinct petrographic
characters but overlapped geochemical fingerprints.
1 Archaeological framework
The Bronze Age marks the renaissance of the Aeolian Is-
lands. The Archipelago, is a key archaeological context
since Early Neolithic because of the availability of obsidian
in Lipari, the only island continuously inhabited as a central
place in the Archipelago. The islands knew a long decline
during the Copper Age because of the progressive abandon
of lithic technologies.
The Archipelago is located in a strategic position in the
southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Fig. 1) allowing the control of
maritime circulation between Aegean, eastern and western
Mediterranean, Sicily and peninsular Italy [1–3]i.e.onthe
main routes pointing to the Sardinian mineral resources.
Consequently, new settlements appeared on the islands at
the onset of the Bronze Age, during the Capo Graziano cul-
ture (Early to Middle Bronze Age 2; 2300–1430 BC).
The increasing importance of the Archipelago is docu-
mented by the importation of Mycenaean pottery (Late Hel-
ladic I–II) during the late stages of the Capo Graziano cul-

D. Brunelli et al.
Fig. 1 Shaded relief map of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea.Volcanoes of
the Aeolian Archipelago hosted several settlements during the Bronze
Age. Trades occurred among the different islands and with Sicily
and Calabria. Their strategic position allowed the control on trades
from the western to the eastern Mediterranean basin. Map is from
GeoMappApp©(http://www.geomapapp.org)
ture at Lipari, Filicudi and Stromboli (Capo Graziano II;
1700–1430 BC; [4–8]).
At the same time Aeolian pottery is documented in mar-
itime exchanges as for instance the finding of the ship-
wreck of Pignataro di Fuori [9,10] near the Lipari coasts,
unique evidence for the Italian Bronze Age, and several oc-
currences of pottery with the peculiar Capo Graziano style
in Sicily [11–18] and Italian mainland [19–23]. The typi-
cal Aeolian pottery classified as impasto ware, resulting by
mixing clay and a relatively coarse temper, is shaped by
mould or coil, burnished and decorated with incised or im-
pressed geometrical patterns. The social organisation of this
pottery production can be classified at the domestic work-
shop level [24,25]. Capo Graziano settlements, typically
composed of oval stone huts, are initially situated (Capo
Graziano I; 2300–1700 BC) on coastal plains such as the
Contrada Diana in Lipari [26] and Filo Braccio in Filicudi
[27,28]. Starting from the late Capo Graziano culture, a gen-
eral movement of the villages is observed, possibly induced
by defence needs (Capo Graziano II; 1700–1430 BC). Nat-
urally defended places, such as the Acropolis of Lipari [1],
the Montagnola of Filicudi [27] and the plateau of San Vin-
cenzo in Stromboli [8,29] are settled at this time. During
Capo Graziano II, pottery is characterised by a typical deco-
rative style with incised zig-zag (a stylised representation of
the sea), lines and alignments of points.
2 Rationale and sampling
Since late 1960s John Williams analysed the whole pot-
tery sequence (from Early Neolithic to Late Bronze Age)
efficiently discriminating Aeolian productions from the im-
ported extra-Aeolian ones based on petrographic observa-
tions [30,31]. The distinction is made possible by the dif-
ferent petrographic character of tempers being of volcanic
origin those of the Aeolian Archipelago while containing
sedimentary and metamorphic clasts those from the Cal-
abrian and Sicilian grounds. Volcanic tempers used for Ae-
olian pottery production are in fact sands deriving by the
natural dismantling of the rock units outcropping nearby a
given workshop. Aeolian Islands consist of seven stratovol-
canoes belonging to an active, subduction-related magmatic
arc (200 km long) growing in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea
(Fig. 1). Subaerial volcanism of the Aeolian Islands hav-
ing started at ∼0.22 Ma BP is still quiescent at Lipari and
Vulcano and persistently active at Stromboli [32]. Basaltic
to rhyolitic extrusive series are present on all islands. Lava
and pyroclastic products belong to calcalkaline (CA), high
potassium calcalkaline (HKCA), shoshonitic (SHO) and,
more rarely, potassic (KS) affinities [33,34].
According to Williams studies, local productions pre-
vailed during Early and Middle Bronze Age, with evidence
of self-sufficient productions in Lipari and Filicudi, later re-
placed by imported and/or local products using imported
clay from northern Sicily [30,31,35,36]. The high prob-
ability of common clay sourcing makes difficult to distin-
guish the intra-archipelago workshops based on bulk com-
positional analyses because tempering may not significantly
affect group distinctiveness until large amount of temper
are added [37,38]. On the other hand, if tempers are lo-
cally added they would reflect the local geochemical fin-
gerprint. Provenance studies should thus focus on this com-
ponent in order to track the location of the manufacturing
centres. A study of potteries from the same region has, how-
ever, demonstrated that petrography alone is not sufficient
for a correct provenance attribution even when tempers of
volcanic origin are used [39]. This is mainly due to the sim-
ilar compositional evolution of the volcanic activity in the
region that makes challenging a safe attribution to a com-
positional group based on the pure petrographic characters
even for a well trained observer.
Moving from this background we set up a microchemical
approach to assess the robustness of petrographic classifica-
tion with the aim of defining Temper-based Compositional
Reference Units to allow easy attribution of a given sam-
ple to a production area and/or craft tradition. This study
re-considers samples from Williams collection along with
additional samples from Lipari Museum and two new ex-
cavations (San Vincenzo, Stromboli [8] and Filo Braccio,
Filicudi [28]) and few occurrences from the shipwreck of
Pignataro di Fuori recovered off the coasts of Lipari. Pottery
from Stromboli, the northernmost island of the Archipelago,
has never been analysed before. The investigated collec-
tion includes pots of different shapes and functions covering

Bronze Age pottery from the Aeolian Islands: definition of Temper Compositional Reference Units
the entire Capo Graziano chronological sequence in Lipari
(n=46), Filicudi (n=56) and Stromboli (n=80), plus few
from the shipwreck of Pignataro di Fuori (n=4).
Samples with non-volcanic-temper, abundantly found at
Stromboli and more rarely on the other islands, attesting a
Calabrian and/or Sicilian provenance, are not investigated
in the present paper.
3 Methods
Mineralogy and petrography were determined on thin petro-
graphic sections by a polarising microscope. Point counting
(at least 500 points for each thin section) was performed on
139 thin sections, whose area is sufficiently large to ensure
a modal distribution representative of sample variability.
Modal distribution data have been treated by multivariate
statistics in order to get a classification of pottery reflecting
the compositional variability and the archaeological site of
provenance. Principal Component (PCA) and Discriminant
Analysis (DA) have been performed using SPSS 17.0 statis-
tical package (Table II, electronic supplementary material).
This approach has been helpful for the definition of the com-
positional groups and the identification of possible imports.
Major element composition of minerals and glasses was
assessed by electron microprobe. Analyses were carried out
with the Superprobe Jeol JXA 8200 at the Eugen F. Stumpfl
Laboratory of the Leoben University (Austria). Analytical
conditions are the following: acceleration voltage 15 kV,
beam current 10 nA, focused beam (∼1 µm diameter), peak
counting time 20 s and background 10 s. Analytical data
were corrected through the ZAF method. A set of natural
and synthetic standards have been used for internal calibra-
tion.
In-situ trace elements have been measured at Centro In-
terdipartimentale Grandi Strumenti (CIGS) at the Univer-
sità di Modena e Reggio Emilia using a Nd:YAG deep UV
(213 nm) New Wave Research UP-213 laser ablation sys-
tem (LA) coupled to a Thermo Fisher Scientific X-SeriesII
Induced Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS). In-
strumental drift correction was computed by linear correc-
tion of measured analyte intensities among repeated mea-
surements of the NIST 612 glass. 44Ca has been routinely
employed as internal standard based on electron microprobe
CaO contents. LA–ICP–MS spectra were obtained with unit
mass resolution. They require few if any interference correc-
tions, due to very low molecular and doubly charged species
production. In this study ThO+/Th+was maintained below
0.5 % and Ba2+/Ba+below 0.1 %. Analytical routine com-
prises 100 µm pre-ablation scan (dwelling time: 2 s, 5 Hz
laser fire, laser fluency 18 ÷20 J/cm2)followedby80µm
ablation scan (dwelling time: 30 s, 20 Hz laser fire, laser flu-
ency 18÷20 J/cm2). Data reduction performed with Plasma
Lab®software, by Thermo Scientific.
4 Results
4.1 Mineralogy and texture
In his pioneering works, Williams [30,31] proposed a clas-
sification based on petrographic criteria, identifying three
main groups named A, B and C. Group A (with nine sub-
groups AI to AIX) includes pottery of Aeolian production
bearing volcanic-derived tempers, ranging from basaltic-
andesitic to rhyolitic in composition [33,34]. Group B con-
sists of pots imported from North Sicily and Calabria, con-
taining clasts of metamorphic and plutonic rocks. Potteries
of group C are interpreted as Aeolian production but char-
acterised by mixed temper of both metamorphic or plutonic
and igneous origin. Here we focus on samples pertaining
to petrographic group A to check the robustness of the pet-
rographic classification and infer possible intra-archipelago
relationships. We build over Williams’s work keeping when
possible his structure and definitions. His classification can
be tested and improved by a statistical approach considering
quantitative parameters defined by petrography and point
counting such as: abundance of mineral and glass phases,
compositions and abundance of lava clasts (e.g. basalt and
basaltic andesite vs. andesite and rhyolite), modal ratios of
plagioclase/pyroxene, mineral/lavas and glass/lavas. There
result a total of 13 different components to operate for statis-
tical analyses (Table I, electronic supplementary material).
Statistical distribution have been computed on 139 samples
(see methods), analyses parameters and output are resumed
in Table II (electronic supplementary material). When sam-
ples are divided by their site of sampling, multivariate anal-
yses show a good separation for the three islands and some
“intruders” representing possible exchanges among the three
sites (i.e. Lipari, Filicudi and Stromboli). Plots of PCA and
DA (Figs. 2A–2B) show a clear distinction of Lipari pop-
ulation (abundance of glass) from Filicudi and Stromboli
(abundance of lava clasts). Notwithstanding the overlapping
of Filicudi and Stromboli shown in the PCA plot, some com-
positional differences (clinopyroxene at Filicudi and pumice
at Stromboli) are emphasised by DA where the two Islands
result more separated (80 % of cross validated grouped cases
correctly classified).
PCA and DA based observations along with modal min-
eralogy and texture allow clustering the investigated sam-
ples in four groups. Three of them: AI, AIV and AVIII
strictly correspond to Williams description [35], while a new
group AX is characteristic of Stromboli. Simple pie dia-
grams of modal distribution of the main characters reveal
the basic differences among the groups (Fig. 3). Compo-
sitional groups clearly show up when PCA is run by dis-
regarding the site of sampling (Figs. 2C–2D). Under these
conditions PCA shows a significant separation of groups AI
and AX while group AVIII overlaps with AIV (in particu-
lar the AIV from Filicudi). The difference among the four

D. Brunelli et al.
Fig. 2 (A)Principal
Component Analyses (PCA)
based on 13 measured
petrographic components
(mineral, rock and glass clast
abundance) grouped based on
their site of sampling.
(B) Discriminant Analyses (DA)
of the same population showing
a good separation between
Lipari population and the other
two islands (Filicudi and
Stromboli). (C)PCAand
(D) DA of the whole population
without the limit of the
sampling site. The four different
compositional groups (AI, AIV,
AVIII and AX) are clearly
separated. Compositional
groups are defined in the text
groups arises from DA (Fig. 2D). Here the group AIV is
in an intermediate position between AX and AVIII allow-
ing the use of these statistical set to help classifying a given
sample.
Iteratively crossing PCA and DA analyses and petro-
graphic observation we refined the compositional characters
of each group estimating 98 % of cross validated cases are
correctly classified in the petrographic groups. Results are
resumed in Table 1. The lower cross validation when PCA
and DA account for the site of sampling attests for disper-
sion of elements pertaining to a given compositional group
in other sites. Accordingly statistic disregarding the site of
provenance clearly separates the compositional groups. It
appears that AI mainly occurs on Lipari and AIV is re-
stricted to Filicudi and Stromboli with the majority on the
former island. AVIII is characteristic of Filicudi while AX
is typically found at Stromboli.
The resulting petrographic characters of these groups can
be confidently described as follows.
Group AI: Temper is characteristically rich of colourless
fresh volcanic glass fragments and pumices (Figs. 3,
Tabl e 1 Distribution of petrographic groups among the different sites
Lipari Filicudi Stromboli
Group AI 27 3 2
Group AIV 38 14
Group AVIII 1 11
Group AX 2 41
4A and 4B) and less plagioclase and pyroxene phyric
lava clasts (basaltic andesite and andesite) with crypto-
microcrystalline groundmass. Y-shaped glass shards
(Fig. 4B) or perlite fragments (Fig. 4C) can be also
present. Plagioclase, the most abundant mineral phase
(Fig. 3) is strongly zoned and sieve-textured, enriched in
glassy inclusions (Fig. 4D). Pyroxene (both monoclinic
and orthorhombic), locally shows resorption embay-
ments and poikilitic inclusions. Few dacitic to rhyolitic
clasts containing quartz and K-feldspar are also present
(Fig. 4E). Olivine (generally altered to iddingsite), sani-
dine, xenoliths of quartzite and scoriae rarely occur. Hy-
drous phases are almost lacking, except of rare horn-

Bronze Age pottery from the Aeolian Islands: definition of Temper Compositional Reference Units
Fig. 3 Pie diagrams showing the mineral distribution in each composi-
tional group (left) and the relative abundance of minerals (MIN), glassy
clasts (GLASS) and rock clasts (LAVA) in the studied samples. Ab-
breviations for minerals are: PL (plagioclase), CPX (clinopyroxene),
OPX (orthopyroxene), OL (olivine), HBL (hornblende; both green and
brown)
blende. Temper grains are subangular, generally finer
than medium sand. This group is mainly present in Li-
pari, subordinately in Filicudi and Stromboli (Table 1).
Group AIV: Temper mostly consists of mineral phases and
lava clasts with very low to negligible glass content
(Fig. 3). Minerals are plagioclase, clinopyroxene and
scarce orthopyroxene. Hydrous minerals are represented
by euhedral brown hornblende and subordinate green
hornblende and biotite. They usually show opaque rims
(Fig. 4F). Andesitic lava clasts with micro- to cryp-
tocrystalline groundmass and phenocrysts of plagio-
clase, pyroxene and hydrous minerals are also present.
Olivine (iddingsite), quartzite xenoliths and scoriae may
locally occur. When present, volcanic glass shows sub-
Fig. 4 Significant mineral and rock clasts characterising the studied
pottery pastes. Scale bar is 0.2 mm. (A) Pumiceous glassy clast with
fluidal texture; (B) Y-shaped glass shard; (C) massive perlitic glass
with typical conchoidal fractures; (D) twinned plagioclase with sieve
texture due to abundant melt inclusions; (E) clast of rhyolite with mi-
crophenocrysts of quartz and feldspar; (F) euhedral brown hornblende
grains, surrounded by oxidised rim within lava clasts; (G) basaltic lava
clast characterised by fluidal microcrystalline groundmass and pyrox-
ene, feldspar and olivine phenocrysts; (H) brown to greenish horn-
blende and pumiceous clast
rounded morphologies, with orange and brown colours
and palagonitic devitrification. Temper grain size do not
exceed medium sand with unimodal or bimodal distri-
bution. This group is well attested both in Filicudi and
Stromboli (Table 1).
Group AVIII: Large abundant grains (up to 2 mm) of pla-
gioclase, clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene, along with
some pyroxene-plagioclase glomerocrysts represent a
distinct feature for this group (Fig. 3). Lava clasts
(basaltic to basaltic andesite lavas; Fig. 4G) with ox-
idised or crypto- to microcrystalline groundmass are

D. Brunelli et al.
mainly characterised by pyroxene as single phenocrysts
or glomerophyric aggregates, together with iron ox-
ides and plagioclase. Glassy clasts (scoriae and palag-
onite) are very rare. Hydrous phases are absent or lim-
ited to few green hornblende grains. Pyroxenes, both
rhombic and monoclinic, may represent up to 34 %
(average 27.3 %, Fig. 3) of the temper, largely pre-
vailing over plagioclase (average 17.6 %, Fig. 3). The
temper does not exceed medium sand grain size, it is
poorly sorted or with bimodal distribution. This group
is typical of Filicudi pottery, mainly from the earlier
village of Filo Braccio. One sample is from Lipari
(Table 1).
Group AX: Temper contains abundant plagioclase, less
clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene and hydrous phases.
Green hornblende without opaque rims (Fig. 4H) is
more abundant than any other group (Fig. 3). Lava clasts
(basaltic andesite to andesite) are characterised by sub-
rounded morphologies and large clasts (up to 7 mm),
with pyroxene phenocrysts and crypto- to microcrys-
talline groundmass. Pumices, quartzite xenoliths and
spherulitic glass are frequent. Iddingsitised olivine is
rare. The temper is poorly sorted and coarse with clasts
often larger than 2 mm and subangular morphologies.
Samples belonging to this group are found in the ar-
chaeological site of Stromboli with the exception of two
from Filicudi (Table 1).
4.2 Mineral chemistry
Group separation can be independently verified based on
major and trace element variability of the observed temper
phases. If petrographic groups reflect local productions then
the chemical composition of the tempers must reflect the
composition of local lava suites i.e. the geochemical flavour
of that given volcanic centre. Hence we performed micro-
chemical in-situ analyses by Electron Microprobe (major
elements) and Laser Ablation ICP-MS (trace elements) on
clinopyroxene, plagioclase and hornblende.
Lipari samples (AI) show a bimodal distribution for
clinopyroxene in the Na2O vs. FeOtot diagram (Fig. 5):
one region includes samples from the shipwreck of Punta
Pignataro along with AI samples from Stromboli and Fil-
icudi. The compositional field of samples pertaining to
group AIV from Filicudi and Stromboli completely over-
lap with group AVIII from Filicudi and the AX group from
Stromboli. In general major elements for both ortho- and
clinopyroxenes do not allow separate groups AIV, AVIII
and AX.
Trace elements in clinopyroxene give indication for a dif-
ferent distribution of group AX. Group AIV from Filicudi
and Stromboli are not resolvable from AVIII. However, in all
trace element systematic they present an unimodal distribu-
tion while group AX samples always trend bimodally with
Fig. 5 Na2O vs. FeOtot (weight %) distribution in clinopyroxenes de-
termined by in-situ electron microprobe analyses. Samples are divided
on the basis of petrographic groups and sites of sampling
Fig. 6 Eu∗vs. SmNdistribution in clinopyroxenes determined by
in-situ Laser Ablation coupled with Induced Coupled Plasma Mass
Spectrometry. Eu∗[=EuN/(SmN·GdN)1/2] the N subscript refers
to chondrite normalisation [40]. Samples are grouped by petrographic
characters and site of sampling
a cluster plotting toward markedly enriched compositions.
Rare Earth Elements content of clinopyroxene is a useful
tool to distinguish the characters of parental lavas. Figure 6
shows the relationship between Eu∗and SmN, where Eu∗
is a measure of the depth of the Eu anomaly calculated as
EuN/(SmN·GdN)1/2and the “N” subscript indicates that
values are normalised to chondrite composition [40]. When
clinopyroxene crystallises along with or after plagioclase,
Eu in the residual melt is preferentially extracted from the
melt with respect to the other REEs because of the com-
patible behaviour of Eu2+in plagioclase. Samples from Li-

Bronze Age pottery from the Aeolian Islands: definition of Temper Compositional Reference Units
Fig. 7 Compositional variability of K2O vs. Ca# in plagioclase of the
four volcanic temper-based Aeolian pottery groups sampled at the dif-
ferent archaeological sites. Ca# =CaO/(CaO +Na2O+K2O)here
used as a proxy of anorthite content
pari AI plot in a well separated trend from the other pet-
rographic groups. Coherently, Stromboli pottery attributed
to the same AI group plots in the same field. AX sam-
ples along with AIV and AVIII trend parallel but shifted to
higher Eu∗values. Worth noting that AX samples have a
bimodal distribution and range to higher SmNvalues than
other groups.
A similar pattern also appears in plagioclase major el-
ement systematic. Here the Ca# value [=CaO/(CaO +
Na2O+K2O)] is used as a proxy of the anorthite content.
Group AI (from Lipari, Filicudi and Stromboli) plots along
a well defined trend characterised by high K2Oatagiven
Ca# (Fig. 7). Filicudi and Stromboli AIV groups overlap at
high Ca# values in the lower trend, while the petrographic
group AX of Stromboli clusters in the same trend at high
K2O values.
Hornblende and other hydrous phases crystallise in
magma suites when the silicate liquid reaches water satu-
ration, i.e. when the magma has already separated a sig-
nificant amount of anhydrous phases, in particular plagio-
clase. Amphibole variability of major element systematic
shows large overlapping of compositional fields. We found
the largest discrimination of amphibole from the four petro-
graphic groups using a FeOtot/TiO2vs. MgO/K2O diagram
(Fig. 8). AI and AX groups plot in separated fields from the
others. Average values (±1σbars) in Fig. 8show that AX
is statistically separated from AIV and AVIII. In this figure
Filicudi and Stromboli AIV groups are plotted separately to
show their compositional superposition. This behaviour is
present in all major and trace element systematic.
Fig. 8 Compositional variability in hornblende defined as
FeOtot/TiO2vs. MgO/K2O. Large symbols represent the aver-
age and 1σerror bar relative to petrographic groups AIV, AVIII
and AX. Subgroups AIV from Stromboli and Filicudi are plotted
separately although they show no statistically significant separation
5 Discussion and conclusions
Based on modal mineralogy and texture of the Aeolian
Bronze Age pottery we recognised four statistically sep-
arated groups (AI, AIV, AVIII and AX) among the vol-
canic temper-bearing pots collected at Lipari, Filicudi and
Stromboli archaeological sites. These groups we confi-
dently assume as Temper Compositional Reference Units
for the specified context [41]. They match those proposed
by Williams [31,35] with the addition of a new unit (AX)
[42] recently found in the Stromboli archaeological site of
S. Vincenzo [8]. The inferred petrographic subdivision is in-
dependently tested by mineral chemistry (major and trace
elements) of representative phases such as clinopyroxene,
plagioclase and hornblende, giving a robust statistical frame-
work for sample identification.
Unit distribution among the islands mainly match with
the provenance sites (Fig. 2, Table 1). The geographical
distribution of AI, AX and AVIII is almost exclusively re-
stricted to the localities where they have been collected, re-
spectively Lipari, Stromboli and Filicudi (Fig. 2, Table 1).
A minor amount of samples pertaining to a given unit is
found in a different island attesting for an active intra-
archipelago exchange network. Their limited number is,
however, not statistically relevant to infer reliable exchange
fluxes. Overall, collected data support the hypothesis of in-
dependent, domestic-workshop, production centres in each
insular community. This is coherent with the observation
that Italian Bronze-age communities locally produced their
own pottery because of a poorly hierarchical society where
work division was not yet completely settled.

D. Brunelli et al.
The existence of a flourishing production in Filicudi is
also suggested by the local production of a unique mas-
terpiece: the cup with an incised decoration represent-
ing a complex pattern with sea waves, human figures and
boats [28].
A controversial case is that of unit AIV. Stromboli and
Filicudi AIV subsets completely overlap in all mineral com-
positional fields (both major and trace elements) and pet-
rography, strongly supporting their provenance from a sin-
gle production centre, independently from their occurrence
in different Aeolian Islands. Samples of this unit have been
found at Filicudi (73 % of the total) and Stromboli (27 %).
This observation may attest for a strong exchange network
between these two islands. To date archaeological evidences
suggest the occupation of Filicudi to predate the settlement
of Stromboli [8,28]. This may alternatively suggest that the
abundance of Filicudi-made pottery at Stromboli could be
evidence for import from Filicudi to Stromboli before the
onset of a local manufacturing resulting in production of AX
pottery.
Other considerations arise by comparing AIV and AVIII
distribution in Filicudi. Their difference only lies in min-
eral modal distribution and petrographic characters (Fig. 3)
while completely overlap in the compositional systematic
(Figs. 5–8). This aspect may suggest the adoption of differ-
ent formulae in a given workshop oriented to obtain different
technical properties or esthetical effects linked to the transi-
tion from the lower village of the phase CGI (where AIV
and AVIII are alternatively employed) to the upper village
of the phase CGII (where AIV predominates).
Overall, there is no correspondence between composi-
tion and shape/function of the vessels attesting for a general
adoption of the same pasteware for the whole local produc-
tion set (mainly bowls, cups, and jars).
Crossing petrographic data (modal mineralogy and tex-
ture) and mineral chemistry is a reliable approach to unravel
the provenance of an artefact in a network of different pro-
duction centres and commercial exchanges. Provenance of
a pottery, even a small shard, can be robustly inferred by
this approach. On the other hand some potentialities ask for
further extend elemental analyses to the whole population
of mineral, glass and lava clasts used as temper and com-
pare them with the compositional variability of the volcanic
rocks of the Archipelago.
Acknowledgements We are grateful to John Williams who inspired
and supported this investigation also making accessible his precious
thin section collection. We also thank M. Cavalier and U. Spigo for
the new samples from the Museo Archeologico Eoliano “L. Bernabò
Brea” of Lipari. F. Zaccarini and D. Manzini are thanked for laboratory
assistance. Thanks to M. Bortolotti for the professional preparation of
thin sections.
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Cre-
ative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribu-
tion, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s)
and the source are credited.
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