Nè forni, nè matrici. Evidenze indirette per la ricostruzione di un coroplastic workshop a Katane

In 1959, during an excavation of a sewer duct in the center of Catania (ancient Katane), one of the most important votive complexes of the western Mediterranean was brought to light. Beyond a large amount of imported and locally produced pottery, the deposit contained more than 10,000, both imported and locally produced, terracotta figurines from the beginning of the 6th to the late 4th century BC. In 2011, a research project aimed to the integral publication of the coroplastic material has been undertaken by a team of researchers they thus far have almost completed the study of the Archaic coroplastic material. The present paper intends to demonstrate how the study of the production technique of both mould and handmade terracotta figurines together with the stylistical analysis, can provide crucial information to identify one or more coroplastic workshops, even in the absence of kilns, moulds and tools. The analysis of some technical features which presuppose specific craft procedures together with the results of the archaeometric analyses have provided the indirect evidences to suggest that a large group of figurines originated in the same local workshop. The analysis of the manifacture technique allowed to make some assumptions on the sequence and organization of the production, the possible presence of apprentices and some stylistic choises.