The contribution of colour measurements to the archaeometric study of pottery assemblages from the archaeological site of Adulis, Eritrea

Authors

  • Abraham Zerai Gebremariam University of Turin, Department of Physics
  • Patrizia Davit Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Torino
  • Monica Gulmini Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Torino
  • Lara Maritan Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università di Padova
  • Alessandro Re Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino
  • Roberto Giustetto
  • Serena Massa Dipartmento di Archeologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
  • Chiara Mandelli Dipartmento di Archeologia, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
  • Yohannes Gebreyesus Northern Red Sea Regional Museum of Massawa
  • Alessandro Lo Giudice Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21014/acta_imeko.v11i1.1094

Abstract

Colorimetric evaluation was applied on archaeological pottery from the ancient port city of Adulis in the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. Pottery samples belong to the Ayla-Aksum typology, Late Roman Amphora 1 and dolia classes, which had never been analyzed by means of this approach. The survey consisted of colorimetric measurements from different parts of the ceramic bodies, to comprehend how these data could be related to the overall fabric classification. Differences in the colorimetric parameters provided helpful information on both technological manufacturing processes and fabric classification. Subtle variations in the colour coordinates were detected and aptly interpreted, so as to ascribe the related differences. Such an approach proved that the information provided by colour measurements can be partially correlated to observations from stereomicroscopy and optical microscopy, allowing a more in-depth description of the fabrics in the study of archaeological pottery.

Author Biographies

Abraham Zerai Gebremariam, University of Turin, Department of Physics

PhD Fellow

Roberto Giustetto

Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino

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Published

2022-03-31

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2022)

Section

Research Papers

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