In the framework of the ERC nEU-Med, Arianna Briano’s PhD project focused on the study of single fired sparse glazed pottery. The research aimed at identifying types and production techniques, defining the chronology and productive sites in Tuscany during the Early Middle Ages.

The research method was twofold, involving a conventional study approach, humanistic and taxonomic, and a more technical and scientific one with archaeometric analyses. In fact, 75 specimens were analyzed, in addition to the cataloguing of each individual fragment, including petrographic thin sections of the mixtures, lead isotope for the glazed covers, chemical examination of the absorbed organic residues and thermoluminescence dating. By defining accurate spatial and chronological coordinates, the research has achieved the ultimate goal of connecting the manufacture of sparse glazed pottery to the historical, economic and social processes that affected southern Tuscany in the Early Middle Ages.