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Provenance and ceramic technology of Gnathia ceramic from Greek settlement of Issa, island of Vis, Croatia.

The ancient Issa, one of the oldest urban nucleus in Croatia, is situated on the island of Vis. Archaeological excavations, conducted in last 30 years, have yielded many artefacts which lead archaeologists to presume the local pottery production within the settlement during the Hellenistic and Early Roman period. The evidence of pottery kilns, finds such as moulds and fragments of pottery waste, the distinctive vessel shapes and decoration, strongly support this archaeological theory also. The subject of this study are Greek (Gnathia) ceramic and possible raw materials of local origin for its production. The goal of the study is to determine the provenance and ceramic technology. Clayey material as well as possible temper material were sampled from several locations on the island. Different type of sampled clayey materials include: relatively pure clays found in the vertical craks within Cretaceous limestones and in some other restricted area on the island ; terra rossa, Pleistocene paleosol rich in clay fraction ; as well as material formed by weathering of volcanic rocks. Possible temper materials are: Quaternary quartz sands, probably of aeolian origin and Albian quartz sediments of unknown origin. Current investigations are based on detailed chemical, mineralogical and grain size analyses of ceramic fragments and possible raw materials. Chemical analyses include determination of mayor elements by ICP-ES and determination of trace and rare earth elements by ICP-MS. Mineralogical analyses include powder XRD analyses of bulk samples and optical microscopy, as well as XRD analyses of random and oriented samples of clay fraction of clayey material. These investigations are possible due to good collaboration between archaeologists and geologists.

archaeometry; gnathia; XRD; microscopy; ceramics; Vis

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