390 Biccone
“a fragmentary and irregular documentary picture.”5 However, many aspects
of it—from the evolution of its forms to the identification of its centers of
production—are still open to investigation through a combination of archaeo-
logical and archaeometric analyses.6
Although there is still no comprehensive view encompassing the evolution
of forms throughout this long period, available material documents from the
late tenth and early eleventh to the fifteenth centuries have made it possible
to develop a morphological table of kitchen coarsewares (Pl. 15.1). For the ear-
lier period, up until the early eleventh century, the studies conducted on the
sample taken from the excavation in Largo Monache Cappuccine in Sassari
enable an analysis of forms and ceramic bodies.7 For the twelfth century, on
the other hand, the only archaeological area that has been published is the one
documented in the palazzo giudicale in Ardara, where well-dated pottery, such
as glazed ware decorated a stampo, has contributed to the study of both mor-
phology and chronology.8 For the thirteenth century, published archaeological
data is rather limited; included among these is the excavation at Via Brenta in
Cagliari, where references are made to ordinary fired pottery or products with
a sufficiently depurated ceramic, made on a fast lathe, and probably meant
for boiling liquids.9 The number of fourteenth-century excavations in rural or
urban areas that have yielded kitchen pottery is on the rise. It is enough to
mention the most well known and representative cases: Geridu10 and other
abandoned villages around Sassari, among which Banari and Ardu are notable
5 Marco Milanese, Paola Mameli, and Daniele Cosseddu, “Indagini minero petrografiche su
ceramiche grezze da contesti di XVI secolo degli scavi di Alghero (SS),” in La ceramica
da fuoco e da dispensa nel basso medioevo e nella prima età moderna (secoli XI–XVI)
(Albisola, 2006), pp. 307–318.
6 The examination of thin sections of ceramic vessels made it possible to identify the geo-
logical composition of the clay. It is possible to hypothesize the areas of manufacture
once characteristic elements have been identified.
7 Laura Biccone, “Relazioni economiche e commerciali nel Mediterraneo occidentale:
l’esempio della Sardegna alla luce di fonti scritte e fonti materiali (Secoli IX–XIII),” doc-
toral thesis, University of Sassari, 2010, with archaeometric analyses by Paola Mameli.
8 Laura Biccone, “Invetriate monocrome decorate a stampo dallo scavo del palazzo giudicale
di Ardara (SS),” in La ceramica invetriata nel medioevo e in età moderna (Albisola, 2005),
pp. 251–264.
9 Elisabetta Garau, “La ceramica comune con decorazione ‘a pettine’ dagli scavi di via
Brenta (Cagliari),” in Città, territorio produzione e commerci nella Sardegna medievale, ed.
Rossana Martorelli (Cagliari, 2002), pp. 324–358.
10 Geridu is an abandoned medieval village several dozen kilometers from Sassari, and the
subject of various archaeological investigations since 1996; Marco Milanese, ed., Studi e
ricerche sul villaggio medievale di Geridu. Miscellanea 1996– 2001 (Florence, 2004).