The review of the finds from the northern area of the Etruscan city of Marzabotto has revealed a group of ceramic wares which – due to their production technique, body and shape – are hardly included in local forms made on a pottery wheel. It is handmade ceramics with coarse mixtures characterized by heterogeneous clasts. Typological analysis established that most of the finds belong to the Ligurian ceramic tradition of the 4th-2nd century BC.
The discovery of non-Etruscan material culture has led us to ask ourselves if it was an imported or local production. Therefore, the archaeological study was integrated with scientific analysis. In particular, we chose a petrographic approach since the mixtures presented lithic clasts of considerable size that preserve useful information on the original raw material.
The chair of Etruscology and Italic Archaeology of the University of Bologna promoted the analysis, which was carried out by professor Roberto Braga of the BiGeA (Dipartimento di Scienze Biologiche, Geologiche e Ambientali) of the University of Bologna. The results highlighted that the lithic component of the selected samples matches with local geology. Therefore, we face locally produced vases belonging to a Ligurian ceramic tradition. Finally, this study improved our knowledge of the 4th-2nd century BC material culture of this territory.
