How can one tackle the study of over 40,000 pottery fragments?

Luisa Russo, ERC nEU-Med team member and PhD student, will show us how this can be done in her study of the Early Medieval assemblage of ceramic finds from Vetricella. Ceramic, as a guide fossil, is of paramount importance for tracing the history of production, commerce and consumption in southern Tuscany during that period. By identifying the fragment, Luisa reconstructs its shape, obtains a minimum number of forms and ultimately elaborates a catalogue. The use of applied sciences is also an interesting part of her research. This includes: 3D reconstruction, petrographic thin sections, p-XRF analyses, gaschromatography and thermoluminescence.

Let’s follow her in the different stages of this complex but fundamental work!