Volcanic grinding tools in Ustica Island (Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy): local production vs. import of Morgantina-type millstones in the Hellenistic-Roman period
| Autor: | Alberto Renzulli, Francesca Spatafora, Patrizia Santi, Sandro de Vita, Franco Foresta Martin |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
010506 paleontology
lcsh:QE351-399.2 Lava Geochemistry Mediterranean 01 natural sciences grinding tools Petrography Millstone Basaltic andesite Bronze Age magmatic series 0601 history and archaeology Sicily 0105 earth and related environmental sciences Basalt geography geography.geographical_feature_category lcsh:Mineralogy 060102 archaeology Hellenistic–Roman period lavas Geology 06 humanities and the arts Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology Volcano Ustica Period (geology) trade Morgantina-type rotary millstones |
| Zdroj: | Minerals, Vol 10, Iss 389, p 389 (2020) Minerals Volume 10 Issue 5 |
| Popis: | This archaeometric study was focused on 28 grey to dark-grey lava artifacts found in Ustica Island (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) and referable to different grinding tools: saddle querns, rotary Morgantina-type millstones, rotary hand-mills and one small mortar. Mineralogy, petrography and bulk rock geochemical analyses emphasized that most of the grinding artifacts belonged to the Na-Alkaline series of Ustica, mainly basalts, hawaiites and mugearites. Nevertheless, some millstone samples did not match major and trace elements of Ustica lavas, in particular, one high-TiO2 Na-Alkaline basalt from Pantelleria Island, some tholeiitic/transitional basalts from the Iblei Mountains and one Calcalkaline basaltic andesite, most likely from the Aeolian Archipelago. The Hellenistic&ndash Roman re-colonisation of Ustica Island, after ca. one millennium of nearly complete abandonment, was testified by the import of the non-local Morgantina-type rotary millstones, very widespread in the Mediterranean area from 4th&ndash 3rd century BC. This import of millstones represented, for the Ustica inhabitants, a real breakthrough for developing a local production of grinding artifacts on the basis of the new rotary technique which was much more efficient than that of the archaic saddle querns, largely used in the Middle Bronze Age. The results are also discussed in the framework of the overall volcanic millstone trade in the Mediterranean area and the different milling technology in antiquity. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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