First compositional evidences on the local production of Dressel 2–4 amphorae in Calabria (Southern Italy): characterization and mixing simulations

Dressel 2–4 amphorae are a type of pottery, which was used to transport wine and produced in the Mediterranean area between the first century BC and the second century AD. This study shows, for the first time, that their production also occurred in Ionian Calabria. These results were achieved by studying 11 samples of archaeological pottery (five samples of Dressel 2–4 and six samples of other ceramic types) taken from Cariati (Calabria Southern Italy). The composition of the pottery wascompared with that of the local raw materials (clays andsands) potentially usable for their production. Sampleswere studied by polarized optical microscopy and analysed by XRF, XRPD and Raman spectroscopy. An innovative approach, based on Microsoft Excel optimizer "Solver" add-in on geochemical data, was used to define theprovenance of archaeological pottery and to calculate themixtures of local clay and sand needed for the productionof the pottery itself.