Abstract
A representative selection of glazed ceramics recovered from medieval Islamic contexts excavated in the former Roman port of Utica (North Tunisia) (23 of 99 pieces) has revealed new data about medieval glaze technologies in the central Mediterranean. Stratified sequences of pottery have established four main phases of occupation which span the mid-tenth to the mid-eleventh centuries. Significant changes in the range of glazed wares are found in the Zirid period with respect to the late Fatimid period: whereas polychrome yellow-amber glazed ware from the Kairouan region was practically the only glazed ware supplied to Utica in the Fatimid period, a varied range of polychrome glazed wares was produced in various techniques in the late tenth century, early Zirid period. These new glazed ware types become dominant in the early eleventh century. Up to six different glazing techniques have been identified by SEM–EDX and optical microscopy, including transparent and opaque glazes with underglaze and overglaze decoration respectively. The absence of tin in all the glazed vessels confirms the data obtained in a previous study from Bir Ftouha. Though it has been repeatedly stated that tin was used to produce the white background of Fatimid-Zirid glazed wares in Tunisia, this was achieved by adding quartz to the glaze. Some imports of glazed ceramics from Sicily and al-Andalus have been detected: their appearance in the early-mid eleventh century is significant as it seems to indicate a first stage in the re-activation of Mediterranean commerce, which increased in the course of the following centuries.
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Notes
This sample appears heavily weathered; it has been assigned to this group mainly based on the microstructure; the analyses were not very reliable.
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Acknowledgements
The ceramics sampled here were finds from the Tunisian-British excavations at Utica conducted by the INP-Tunisie (Imed Ben Jerbania, Faouzi Ghozzi, dirs.) and the University of Oxford (Lisa Fentress, Andrew Wilson, dirs.). We are most grateful to the Tunisian authorities for their permission to study them in Barcelona. The work also forms part of the activities of the ERAAUB, Consolidated Group 2017 SGR 1043.
Funding
This work received financial support from MINECO (Spain) (grant PID2019-105823RB-I00), the Generalitat de Catalunya (grant 2017 SGR 0042) and the Barakat Trust (Major Award 2019: for the project Early Islamic ceramics and culture in Tunisia: chronologies, sources and vessel use).
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ES, PR and TP wrote the main manuscript text, PR sampled the ceramics, ES and TP analysed the ceramics and glazes, PR prepared Fig. 2, and ES and TP prepared Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 and Tables 4 and 5. All authors prepared Fig. 1 and Tables 1, 2 and 3. All author read and approved the final manuscript.
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Salinas, E., Reynolds, P. & Pradell, T. Technological changes in the glazed wares of northern Tunisia in the transition from Fatimid to Zirid rule. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 224 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01690-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01690-4