Un approccio archeometrico per determinare l’origine dei manufatti in pietra ollare Un’analisi delle potenzialità, criticità e sviluppi futuri

Pietra ollare identified a raw material mined in the Alps that was used for the widespread production of cookware and dishware in the Early Middle Ages. One of its distinctive characteristics is a close association between mineralogy and provenance that can be exploited to determine the origin of archaeological specimens. Consequently, pietra ollare appears as a proxy for reconstructing the ancient trading networks. To this aim, we did an in-depth census of the Early Middle Ages pietra ollare findings in North Italy, and we elaborated an archaeometric approach to determine the origin of the artifacts. This contribution presents the protocol and discusses its potentialities, criticalities, and future developments.