Neutron Activation Analysis of Aegean and Aegeanising Ceramics from Roca Vecchia and the Circulation of Pottery in Southern Italy

This article reports the results of an archaeometric study using NAA on 20 samples of wheelmade fine-ware pottery and one pithos from Roca Vecchia in Apulia. The study aims at elucidating the circulation of Mycenaean-type and Italo-Mycenaean-type vessels across southern Italy. For comparison with Punta di Zambrone, we have focused on ceramics from the RBA levels of Roca Vecchia, as this is a coastal settlement, which, according to previous studies, yielded both Aegean imports and local or regional Italo-Mycenaean products, all well-stratified in a continuous vertical settlement sequence. The chemical analysis identified a few imports from Greece (mainly from Achaea/Elis) and many Apulian products (forming two chemical groups), some of which adhere closely to the Mycenaean style, while others are of Italo-Mycenaean type. These Apulian chemical groups are absent from the previously analysed pots from Punta di Zambrone. One coarse-ware pithos from Roca Vecchia turned out to be an import from the southern plain of Sybaris, i.e. the same region that is represented with a few Mycenaean fine-ware vessels at Punta di Zambrone.