Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-018-0654-2

ORIGINAL PAPER

From clays to pots: chaînes opératoires and technical options at a burnt Late Iron Age potter’s workshop (north-eastern Italy) Lara Maritan 1

&

Massimo Vidale 2 & Claudio Mazzoli 1 & Giovanni Leonardi 2 & Alberta Facchi 3

Received: 2 January 2018 / Accepted: 7 May 2018 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018

Abstract The unusual discovery of a potter’s workshop suddenly destroyed by a firing-cum-collapse event at Montebello Vicentino (northeastern Italy), dated to the Late Iron Age (ca. late fifth–fourth centuries BC), offers the unique possibility of studying two parallel operational sequences or chaines opératoires of ceramic manufacturing in this period, by direct analysis of the various base materials and products lost during destruction. Raw materials (prepared clay batch, sand, and other temper inclusions), unfired vessels knocked to the ground by the collapse, and samples of fired pottery were comprehensively characterized by petrographic and mineralogical analysis. Comparisons with similar ceramic products found at nearby settlements of Montebello can also better define the differences between production which was actually taking place at the workshop at the moment of destruction and previous work, as documented by sherds found at the same site. Keywords Pottery workshop . Late Iron Age . Chaîne opératoire . Petrography . Manufacturing recipes

Introduction According to the re-processing of Roux (2016) of the concept originally formulated by Leroi-Gourhan (1964), a chaîne opératoire represents Bthe whole manufacturing process - defined as a series of operations that transform raw material into finished product, either consumption object or tool (Creswell 1976), or part of the manufacturing process which is then decomposed into several chaînes opératoires (Lemonnier 1983)^. The implicit concept or model of the linear execution of actual technical tasks, widely popularized by the French scholars, and generally accepted as a standard archaeological ontology, has been described in detail and discussed by archaeologists who, by way of contrast, have emphasized the

* Lara Maritan [email protected] 1

Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Via Gradenigo 6, 35131 Padua, Italy

2

Department of Cultural Heritage: Archaeology and History of Art, Cinema and Music, University of Padova, Piazza Capitaniato 7, 35139 Padua, Italy

3

National Archaeological Museum of Adria, Via G. Badini 59, 45011 Adria, Italy

non-linear nature of pre-industrial work sequences, which should rather be described in terms of networks of looser steps, parallel trajectories, suspensions, and intersections, all directly affected by a wide range of social practices, constraints, and flexible communication strategies (Dobres 2000; Vidale et al. 1992; Milliken and Vidale 1998; Bleed 2001; Gosselain 2002; see also crucial ethno-archaeological observations of Wendrich 2006). In this paper, we present the results of archaeometric study of the chaîne opératoires found at a Late Iron Age potter’s workshop of Montebello Vicentino (north-eastern Italy), where remains of the paste already prepared and both unfired and fired vessels were found on the floor of the same workshop, and illustrate a very rare, comprehensive case in which several steps of two parallel but different manufacturing sequences were materially represented by a sudden destruction event. Montebello Vicentino (hereafter Montebello) was a large and important protohistoric settlement, developing on the Verona-Vicenza piedmont at the mouths of the rivers Agno and Chiampo, above the floodplain corridor between the Berici and Lessini reliefs (Bondini 2005; Leonardi et al. 2011) (Fig. 1). It had been settled since the Late and Final Bronze Ages (thirteenth–twelfth centuries BC), with gaps between the late twelfth and the ninth centuries BC, and between the eighth and the seventh centuries BC. It was populated again between the sixth and the fourth centuries BC, apparently as stronghold

Archaeol Anthropol Sci Fig. 1 a Location of present centre of Montebello Vicentino (north-eastern Italy) and its archaeological site; b geological sketch of area and of Alpone, Chiampo and Agno rivers

of progressive Bcolonization^ of the piedmont strip by the early city-states of the plains, in search of new agricultural land and new resources such as metals, wood, wool, and possibly other animal products. The latest occupation levels of the site contain firing and collapse layers, followed by general abandonment, perhaps due to pressure on the piedmont by Celtic groups, which had gradually increased between the late fifth and the fourth centuries BC. During one of these destructive events, a house-cum-pottery workshop, composed of two rooms in a semisubterranean house, was suddenly abandoned by the local craftsmen (Fig. 2) (Leonardi and Facchi 2013). The pottery workshop was located at the periphery, in a partially excavated row of houses, among which were a ceramic workshop and a metallurgical one. It is debatable whether this context should be interpreted as a purely BPompeiian^ deposit (i.e. an assemblage simultaneously Bfrozen^ in time by a destructive event) or better diachronically understood in its specific formation processes. Different perspectives on this matter may be found, among others, in Ascher (1961), Binford (1981), Schiffer (1985), and Murray (1999). However, its unique character, due to the traumatic event, is beyond discussion. The dynamics of the firing and inner collapse are clear enough and demonstrate that the production processes thus dramatically interrupted can be studied and interpreted in conditions of unusual completeness and material coherence. On the bases of the ceramic record, the pottery workshop seems to have started its activity at the beginning of the settlement life.

Other archaeometric studies have been previously published on Iron Age pottery production in north-eastern Italy (Calogero and Lazzarini 1984; Maritan 2001, 2004; Nodari et al. 2004; Maritan et al. 2005a, b; Tenconi et al. 2013; Saracino and Maritan 2012; Saracino et al. 2014; Tenconi et al. 2017), but in all the cases, the pottery was found in consumption sites and turned out to be mostly locally produced. In the study case, while the house-cum-workshop was burning, one carbonized wooden door fell to the south, outside the access (1 in Fig. 2). The building had an inner drain, partially dug into the local basaltic bedrock, running below the floor along the northern wall and then along the western one, to debouch in a tank (3 and 4 in Fig. 2); lastly, outside the building, it ended in a kind of well, similarly sunk into the rock and internally lined with two wide overlapping ceramic rings (2 in Fig. 2). This elaborate facility provided the pottery with a constant supply of running water. Locally, the drain was covered with horizontal stone slabs (5 in Fig. 2). On the floor of the workshop, several artefacts were found: a pottery lid filled with pure sand (6 in Fig. 2); a massive round batch of prepared clay ready for throwing, whose mass was sufficient for producing ca. 90 medium-to-small pots (10 in Fig. 2); a series of still unfired clay vessels, presumably fallen from a shelf where they had been drying (11 and 19 in Fig. 2); a group of spherical lumps of clay, ready for throwing (12 in Fig. 2), together with a series of polished stone tools (20, 21, and 23–25 in Fig. 2) and a few lumps of ochre (22 in Fig. 2), ideally suitable for surface decoration and/or pattern burnishing. Near a flat stone supporting the central pole of the building (8 in Fig. 2), a conical hole in the floor might have been the

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Fig. 2 Map of collapsed layer on floor of potter's workshop. Legend: 1: door (charred parallel planks); 2: tank with terracotta rings; 3: tank; 4: stone drain under floor; 5: stone slab covering drain; 6: ceramic lid filled with sand; 7: partition wall; 8: central large flat stone;

9: conical hole hosting pivot wheel, with possible previous location; 10: round mass of prepared clay; 11–19: unfired clay vessels; 20–21: polished stone tools; 22: ochre; 23: polisher; 24–25: milling stones

base for the pivot of the potter’s wheel (8 in Fig. 2). The wheel-throwing station, thus reconstructed, would have been surrounded by the prepared clay balls ready for throwing and the collapsed unfired pots; the craftsman may have taken advantage of the light coming from the door. A notch on the edge of one large round prepared mass of clay (6 in Fig. 2) was visible in the direction of the hypothesized wheel seat, perhaps reflecting one of the potter’s last gestures. Four fragmentary fired vessels (15–18 in Fig. 2) also belonged to the same assemblage and were probably used by the potters for keeping

water, food, or other materials. The whole central-western part of the floor, when the workshop was burning down, was covered with a thin layer of crushed foraminiferal limestone rock (not illustrated in Fig. 2), definitely processed shortly before, in the same space, for the production of ceramic temper, quite common in the large storage jars used at that time. The aim of this paper is to describe the preserved material evidence of the chaînes opératoires performed in the workshop, through macroscopic and microscopic analysis of the base clay material ready for throwing and the unfired vessels.

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These latter were compared with a series of potsherds of the same types found in the workshop and in other nearby houses and spaces in the protohistoric village of Montebello. This allowed understanding the links between production momentarily in action at the workshop and the findings of the settlement, which normally represent the archaeological record of a common consumption site.

Materials and methods The excavation of the potter’s workshop had taken place about 30 years ago, but until now, information about it has remained almost completely unpublished; at present, however, great part of the finds was available to the authors for analysis. In addition to a sample of the main batch of prepared clay (10 in Fig. 2), 20 objects were studied and sampled from the pottery assemblage (Figs. 3, 4, and 5). They represent the various vessel types on record—both fired and unfired—which were found in the workshop (Table 1), namely, three unfired domestic pots from the collapse (11, 12, and 19 in Fig. 2) hereafter called by the Latin term ollae, seven fragments of fired ollae of the same type, four

Fig. 3 Drawings of the vessels 1–4 (Table 1) from the potter’s workshop

fired and four unfired bowls (again from groups 11, 12, 19 in Figs. 2, 4), one fragment of a cup, and the lid containing sand (6 in Fig. 2). Eleven potsherds representing the ceramic repertory found at the Montebello settlement were also analyzed: four ollae, four bowls, two mortar bowls, and one grater bowl (Table 1). Although various types of objects were sampled in the present study, the inventory of forms of the Late Iron Age assemblages also includes different types of beakers, bowls, and middle-sized jars recovered from other areas of the settlement, the archeometric investigation of which is not included in the present paper. As for the function of the pots, in the absence of specific studies, their functions remain undefined, although it is generally thought that grater and bowls were used at banquets and food sharing (graters for cheese, vegetables, or similar soft foods, and bowls for serving beverages or drinking), while ollae (medium- and large-sized restricted containers), usually interpreted as middle- and short-term storage containers: it cannot be excluded that the smallest specimens were used for cooking. Finding three fabrics only is not surprising and matches what it is generally known of the organization of pottery production in the local Middle Iron Age.

Fig. 4 Drawings of the vessels 5–13 (Table 1) from the potter’s workshop

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fabric (b-fabric). Fragments of foraminiferal limestone show a grain-sized gap with the thinner silt fraction of the base clay, formed of predominant angular grains of quartz as single crystals and metamorphic aggregates, associated with scarce clay pellets, rare fragments of chert, glauconite, strongly altered basalt fragments, crystals of pyroxene, and opaque minerals. The millimetric and submillimetric grains are composed of bioclasts of nummulites, discocyclinae, dasyclad green algae, echinoderms, and bryozoans. On the basis of the size of the bioclasts, the limestone from which they derive has a grain-supported structure and, according to the classifications of Dunham (1962) and Folk (1965), corresponds to a rudstone or a biomicrite, respectively. Only in a few samples (i.e. 14 and 15), the internal structure of the limestone, and in particular that of the fossil remains, is obliterated, due to calcite recrystallization after firing, since the temperature exceeded that of calcite decomposition. In addition to unfired and fired vessels, this petrogroup characterizes also the clay batch (6 in Fig. 2) representing, therefore, one of the unfired tempered clay mixtures commonly prepared by the potters, and the last one produced before destruction. This petro-fabric is observed in almost all the unfired and fired ollae found both in the workshop and the settlement, as well as in the prepared clay (Table 1, Fig. 7). –

Petro-group B: micritic limestone-rich paste Samples of this ceramic paste contain abundant (c:f ratio = 30:70), rounded, silt-sized fragments of micritic limestone (up to 800 μm), associated with some rounded fragments of chert and clay pellets, and angular fragments of quartz, as single crystals and metamorphic aggregates, rare fragments of altered basalt, crystals of pyroxene, and altered olivine (Fig. 6b). The inclusions display a bimodal grainsize distribution, with micritic limestone prevailing in the larger-sized fraction. In fired samples, the groundmass is mainly optically active with a speckled b-fabric. On the basis of its structure, the limestone was classified as mudstone (Dunham 1962) or micrite (Folk 1965). In most of the potsherds, the limestone shows the typical original internal structure of a micritic limestone, whereas in a few cases it clearly recrystallized after firing, occasionally showing reaction rims. This type of paste was used to produce almost all the analyzed bowls both from the workshop (unfired and fired) and the settlement (Table 1, Fig. 7).

–

Petro-group C: fine untempered paste This paste is characterized by an optically inactive groundmass, with a 30:70 c:f ratio, in which fine silt-sized angular inclusions are predominantly made of angular crystals of quartz, associated with clay pellets, rounded fragments of micritic limestone, and scarce crystals of

Fig. 5 Drawings of the vessels 14–24 (Table 1) from the settlement

Potsherds, unfired fragments, and the clay batch were all thin-sectioned and analyzed under a polarizing light microscope (Nikon Eclipse E660, equipped with a Canon 650 digital camera), following the description procedure and terminology proposed by Whitbread (1989, 1995) and revised by Quinn (2013). Argillaceous inclusions were identified according to the criteria of Cuomo di Caprio and Vaughan (1993) and Whitbread (1986).

Results According to the nature, abundance, and grain size of inclusions, the studied samples were divided in three main petrographic groups: –

Petro-group A: foraminiferal limestone-rich paste This group is characterized by abundant inclusions (coarse:fine ratio = c:f ratio = 30:70), mainly coarse sandsized (some hundreds of microns to a few millimetres), sub-angular in shape, composed of predominant fragments of foraminiferal limestone (Fig. 6a). The fired vessels have an optically active groundmass, with a speckled birefringent

Archaeol Anthropol Sci Table 1 List of analyzed samples in which shape, type (fired or unfired), context in which they were found (potter’s workshop, settlement), and petrographic group are reported. A, foraminiferal limestone-rich paste; B, micritic limestone-rich paste; C, fine untempered paste

Sample

Shape

Type

Context

Petro-group

1 2

Olla Olla

Fired Fired

Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop

B A

3

Olla

Fired

Potter’s workshop

A

4 5

Lid Olla

Fired Fired

Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop

A A

6

Bowl with luster surface

Fired

Potter’s workshop

B

7 8

Cup Bowl with lustre surface

Fired Fired

Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop

B B

9

Olla

Fired

Potter’s workshop

A

10 11

Olla Bowl

Fired Fired

Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop

A B

12 13

Bowl with everted rim Olla

Fired Fired

Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop

A A

14

Olla

Fired

Settlement

A

15 16

Olla Grater bowl

Fired Fired

Settlement Settlement

A B

17 18 19 20

Olla Olla Bowl Mortar bowl

Fired Fired Fired Fired

Settlement Settlement Settlement Settlement

A A B C

21 22 23 24

Bowl with lustre surface Bowl Mortar bowl Bowl

Fired Fired Fired Fired

Settlement Settlement Settlement Settlement

B C C B

25 26

Olla Bowl

Unfired Unfired

Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop

A B

27 28 29 30 31

Bowl Bowl Olla Olla Clay block (tempered)

Unfired Unfired Unfired Unfired Unfired

Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop Potter’s workshop

B B A A A

plagioclase, K-feldspar, pyroxene, flakes of white mica, biotite, and opaque minerals (Fig. 6c). This paste was only observed in three bowls found in other parts of the settlement, but was absent from the unfired and fired vessels of the workshop (Fig. 7).

Discussion As for the provenance of the raw materials used at the Montebello workshop, the unfired clay tempered and ready to be thrown contains in its finer fraction (representing the base clay) both mineral and rock fragments, indicating its secondary origin as an alluvial clay. The occurrence, in particular, of

metamorphic quartz, derived from the crystalline basement of the Eastern Alps and deposited by the river Adige on the fan to the southeast of Lake Garda, and that of altered basalt fragments and olivine, derived from the Oligocene-Upper Palaeocene basalts outcropping near Montebello (Fig. 1), indicate that the clay material was collected nearby. Both the bimodal grain-size distribution of inclusions in petro-groups A (foraminiferal limestone-rich) and B (micritic limestone-rich) and the occurrence of only one rock type in the coarse grain-size fraction suggest that these fabrics were deliberately tempered. According to its fossil assemblage, the foraminiferal limestone is Lower Oligocene in age and belongs to the Calcareniti di Gastelgomberto formation, which outcrops near the Montebello workshop, above the Oligocene-Upper Palaeocene basaltic volcanites (Antonelli et al. 1990) (Fig. 1). Since millimetric and submillimetric grains are composed of

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7a, b). This fabric is also encountered in the large clay batch (Table 1; Fig. 7a) and in the only two samples of everted rim bowl and lid from the workshop (Table 1; Fig. 7a). Almost all bowls, both from the workshop (unfired and fired) and from the settlement, were produced with the micritic limestone-rich paste (petro-group B) (Table 1; Fig. 7a, b). Only the mortar bowls and one bowl from the settlement were produced with the base clay, without any added temper (petro-group C). As regards the ollae, the choice of a base clay tempered with foraminiferal limestone (petro-group A), characterized by elongated shapes and mainly millimetric fragments, was made to form vessel types with higher walls than those of bowls. These elongated inclusions, set subparallel to the walls, clearly reduced the bulk plasticity of the green (unfired) paste, thus avoiding undesired deformations. These inclusions acted as core elements in the fired vessels, increasing their mechanical resistance. Instead, the bowls were produced with clay tempered with micritic limestone-rich sand, the grain size of which is always finer than the fragments of foraminiferal limestone, with

Fig. 6 Photomicrographs taken in crossed-polarized light of a foraminiferal limestone-rich paste, petro-group A; b micritic limestonerich paste, petro-group B; and c fine untempered paste, petro-group C

bioclasts without matrix, it is clear that they were mechanically separated from the rock from which they derive. The micritic limestone, occurring in samples of petro-group B, is rounded in shape and small in size (less than 1 mm) and shows bimodal grain-size distribution, indicating that the limestone was probably deliberately added to the paste as a naturally occurring fine sand. This rock derives from the Cretaceous limestone of the Biancone formation, outcropping along the Chiampo valley upstream of Montebello (Fig. 1). It was transported and deposited in sand banks near the site by the Chiampo river. Therefore, both the base clay used in all the three petrofabrics and the rocks used as temper were locally available and easily accessible to the potters of the Montebello workshop. In terms of pottery production, the petro-groups defined so far are related to ceramic shape or type. Almost all the ollae from both the workshop floor and the settlement, as well as unfired ollae from the workshop, were produced with the paste rich in foraminiferal limestone (petro-group A) (Table 1; Fig.

Fig. 7 Bar diagrams of various ceramic pastes recognized for each ceramic type, together with clay found within the potter’s workshop and at the settlements at Montebello: a distinction between ceramic types, b grouped as bowls and ollae, both fired and unfired

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rounded and almost equidimensional (sub-spherical) shapes. The shaping of this type of vessel, with lower walls, did not require the preparation of a specific temper, thus indicating that the sand presumably available at nearby stream deposits was perfectly suitable. The use of non-plastic carbonate tempers such as ground calcite, carbonate rock, shells, and speleothems is often reported in both historical and prehistoric pottery production in various geographical areas (Fabbri et al. 2014, and literature therein). This type of temper was probably chosen for several reasons. In general, carbonate inclusions are considered to improve clay body workability, shock resistance, and toughness of the resulting pots (Bronitsky and Hamer 1986; Feathers 1989, 2006; Skibo et al. 1989; Hoard et al. 1995; Tite et al. 2001; Feathers et al. 2003; Maritan et al. 2005a, b; Tenconi et al. 2013; Santacreu and Cau Ontiveros 2016; Allegretta et al. 2016a). Potters in Montebello were probably aware of these improvements. Therefore, on the basis of the petrographic analysis, although two chaînes opératoires are completely attested at Montebello workshop, for the production of ollae and bowls, respectively, the occurrence at the settlements of an olla produced with the paste generally used for bowls and of a bowl produced with the paste generally used for ollae points out the complexity of the pottery production at the site of Montebello. As regards firing temperature, microscopic and microstructural analysis of the inclusions clearly indicated that most of the fired vessels had reached temperatures lower than those of calcite decomposition. In particular, comparison of internal bioclast microstructures, still well preserved, with experimental firing on shell fragments (Maritan et al. 2007) and microfossil-bearing clays (Privitera et al. 2015), indicates that the pottery at Montebello was mainly fired at temperatures below 800 °C. Only the few cases in which the internal microstructure of the bioclasts is almost completely obliterated did the temperature exceed this limit. Besides bioclasts, limestone fragments used as temper in this ceramic production indicate firing temperatures below 800 °C, when compared with experimental firings on pastes containing single calcite crystals (Riccardi et al. 1999), speleothems (Tenconi et al. 2016), and micritic limestone (Maritan et al. 2006; Allegretta et al. 2016b). These firing temperatures are also confirmed by the optically active groundmass, the birefringence of which, related to the occurrence of illite, indicates that firing did not exceed 800–900 °C (Riccardi et al. 1999; Maritan et al. 2006).

Conclusions Outcropping limestone, fluvial sand deposits and secondary clays (Fig. 2) all indicate that the Montebello potters used local raw materials for their pottery production. Their skilful choice of

various tempers according to the vessels’ type (sub-angular coarse-grained foraminiferal limestone fragments for the ollae, and rounded silt-sized micritic limestone grains for the bowls) indicates not only long-acquired practical experience but also the adoption of standardized choices, meant to fulfil the functional and aesthetic requirements of a stable demand for ceramics. The common decision to temper coarse cooking vessels and storage jars with crumbled and ground limestone—a recurrent option by the potting communities of the same period in the Veneto region to make large containers—reflects a widely shared technical tradition. The production skills of the Montebello potters are also confirmed by the apparent use of a kiln, although bone firing cannot a priori be excluded since both structures could have easily reached medium-high firing temperatures in a well-controlled atmosphere. Although foraminiferal limestone-tempered ollae, as well as other heavy-duty and storage vessels which were quite hard to transport, were intended for the immediate needs of the village, the bowls and the mortar bowls belong to a wider and perhaps less defined (in chrono-typological terms) class of vessels, commonly called BEtruscan-Po valley^ ceramic production (Mattioli 2013). It is therefore possible that bowls and mortar bowls like those studied here, which were among the last pots thrown by the Montebello potter before suddenly leaving the workshop, may have had a wider regional distribution, thus contributing to the community’s welfare. Although some archaeometric studies on coarse Iron Age pottery from north-eastern Italy have been previously carried out (Maritan 2001; Saracino and Maritan 2012; Tenconi et al. 2013; Saracino et al. 2014; Tenconi et al. 2017), the production recipes referable to the Montebello workshop do not find any correspondence with those of other contemporaneous consumption sites. This may be due to the little archaeometric work done in the region on Iron Age ware. The diffusion of coarse pottery also from other areas of northern Italy was previously attested (Tenconi et al. 2013), indicating that also the production site of Montebello may have played such a rule in the regional pottery distribution. While archaeological studies of ancient crafts too often take for granted, as Banalytical individuals^ (still in the sense of Hill and Gunn 1977) simplistic equations among production units (of various scales), the same base materials, and identical processing sequences, reality is another thing. In the described context, petrographic observation reveals that two chaines opératoires were simultaneously on record— one for the coarse cooking ware and storage bins of petrogroup A, and the other for the finer bowls of petro-group B. The two sequences were performed as parallel tasks in the same production unit and quite likely by the same craftpersons, possibly specialized in the production of a set of ceramic classes and types, rather than on a single good; even though the location of the ceramic lid filled with river sand (5 in Fig. 2), peripheral to the wheel-throwing seat of the

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very last technical event suggests that the base material of petro-group B had been prepared some time before. Therefore, such an evidence of planned storage adds to the image of the potters’ technical competence, and their economic integration with the local consuming communities. Moreover, as far as we currently know, the evidence would isolate petro-group C. Indeed, the settlement bowls and mortar bowls were generally made with the different, finer paste of this latter group, the production of which was not directly attested in the burnt building. This absence may represent a gap in the record, if that particular type of vessel was actually manufactured at the workshop, but not at the moment of its destruction. Lastly, as pots were serially fashioned on the potter’s wheel indoor, near a fireplace and exploiting the light coming from the door’s frame, it is possible that the house was destroyed in autumn or winter—if not in a rainy day. In the first case, ceramic production might have been performed in the cold season, hinting to a part-time working schedule that does not necessarily conflict with the general emerging picture of a flourishing village-level craft specialization. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the former BSoprintendenza Archeologica del Veneto^, now BSoprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l'area metropolitana di Venezia e le province di Belluno, Padova e Treviso^, for providing archaeological materials. We also thank Gabriel Walton who revised the English text, and Silvia Tinazzo for some of the drawings in this article. Funding information This research received financial support from the University of Padova (DOR1729052/17).

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