Conscious use of carbonates in the Enotrio-geometric pottery from Sala Consilina | Uso consapevole dei carbonati nella ceramica enotrio-geometrica di Sala Consilina

The ceramic artefacts coming from the proto-historic necropolis at Sala Consilina are characterised by very fine pastes different in colour (from red to white). These variations are correlated with distinct calcium contents, from 5 to 23% CaO. The artefacts with different pastes are often recovered in the same tomb, denoting contemporaneous productions. The clays of the surrounding countryside of Sala Consilina contain variable amounts of carbonates, mainly dolomite, but the composition of carbonate-free clays is similar to the ceramic pastes one after excluding calcium content. So, it is possible all the ceramics could have been obtained by introducing different amounts of a calcareous material into carbonate free clay. It is clear that this production technology needed high knowledge of ceramic process, i.e. the milling technique for obtaining a very fine powder of calcareous material and above all the control of the temperature during firing step.