Internet Archaeology 4. Perkins. 6.4

6.4 Coarsewares

Study of the amphorae allows the reconstruction of a trade in agricultural produce but the evidence of the pottery distributions also indicates trade in everyday ceramics within the valley. The clearest evidence for this comes from the study of the coarseware made in Doganella in the same fabric as the amphorae (Coarseware 2). The spatial distribution of the pottery and the graph of its range is very similar to that of the amphorae and can be taken as a further illustration of the geographical extent of the economic influence of the city.

Fig. 187. Distribution map of Coarseware 2
© P Perkins 1997

Fig. 188. Graph of the distribution of Coarseware 2, Doganella Amphorae and settlements against distance from the city
© P Perkins 1997

The similarity of the two distribution patterns suggests that these items were being distributed through similar mechanisms of transport and exchange since they were produced at the same location and distributed to the same places. The simplest explanation is that Doganella was a market centre for the amphorae and the Coarseware 2 pots. Presumably, the fact that over 80% of the Coarseware 2 was found within 15km of the city indicates that most people using Doganella as a market centre to acquire ceramics came from within that area. Although the final distributions of the amphorae and the coarsewares are similar this does not necessarily imply that there was a unified trade in ceramics made in the city at Doganella, since it is probable that the amphorae were traded for their contents rather than the vessel alone. Therefore it is possible that the two similar patterns are a result of trade in different commodities - pottery and agricultural produce - probably wine.

Other coarsewares do not display this same pattern of distribution. A comparison between the distribution of the Doganella-made Coarseware 2 and the ubiquitous dark red sandy Coarseware 1 shows a different spatial distribution with reference to the city.

Fig. 189. Distribution map of Coarseware 1
© P Perkins 1997

Fig. 190. Graph of the distribution of Coarseware 1, Coarseware 2 and settlements against distance from the city
© P Perkins 1997

The Coarseware 1 is not clustered around the city in the same way as the Coarseware 2. The Coarseware 1 is distributed throughout the valley and the curve of the distribution of the pottery plotted against distance from the city is similar to the general curve of the distances of all settlements from the city. This suggests that Coarseware 1 was not exclusively made at the city but that it was either produced at a number of scattered sites like the rural kilns detected by the survey or produced at fewer sites but distributed widely through the city, minor centres and perhaps also villages. This suggestion is supported by the fact that there is little standardisation in the ware and it was probably fired in clamp kilns.

Consideration of the distributions of the Coarse Creamware 1 and the Coarse Creamware 2 provides evidence of further patterning. The Coarse Creamware 1 is not a local product. It contains minerals of volcanic origin, suggesting a source for the minerals in southern Etruria somewhere between Veii and Vulci. Doganella was not alone in receiving Coarse Creamware 1; it has been found along the coastline of Etruria, in the Arno valley and as far North as Genova (Capecci 1987, 130-31; Milanese and Mannoni 1986). The fact that large quantities of basins in this fabric have been found at Doganella is not then surprising, and it demonstrates that the city fully participated in Tyrhennian trade, a point reinforced by the finding of a Caeretan cylinder impressed pithos (Perkins and Walker 1990, 33). The Coarse Creamware 1 is less common further from the coastal areas but the distribution pattern does not match the pattern for the pots made at Doganella. This suggests that there were networks of distribution for the pottery which reached all parts of the survey area and were not tied to the city at Doganella.

Fig. 191. Distribution map of Coarse Creamware 1
© P Perkins 1997

Fig. 192. Graph of the distribution of Coarse Creamware 1, Coarse Creamware 2 and settlements against distance from the city
© P Perkins 1997

The distribution of the Coarse Creamware 2 is different again. The fabric is not found at Doganella, but it is distributed throughout the coastal plain of the Ager Cosanus. Some, but probably not all, of this ware was made at the village kilns of CAP46 in the Radicata valley. This pottery then provides yet another model for the production and distribution of ceramics in the valley with village production and local distribution apparently by-passing the city. Some of the less common ceramic fabrics (for example Coarseware 6 and Coarseware 12) may also fit into this small scale model of production as they were only recorded from a few sites in a limited area.