Sicilian and Southern-Italian red-figure potteries: a provenance study on findings from Gela by portable X-ray fluorescence

In this contribute we present an archaeometric study carried out by non-destructive method on a selection of red-figure vases datable between the second half of the fifth century B.C. and the beginning of the third century B.C., and found at Gela, an important Greek colony on the southern coast of Sicily. This class of vessels includes valuable artifacts, found in different archeological contexts through Sicily and Southern Italy and preserved in several Museums. So far, scholars have attributed hypothetically these vases to single painters only on the basis of the drawing style and the iconography of the depicted scenes (Trendall, 1989) and they have made assumptions about the location of the different workshops merely according to the distribution of findings (Barresi, 2014; Denoyelle & Iozzo, 2009; Spigo, 1987). The only archaeometric study on the provenance of these ceramics is a recent research on vases from the archaeological site of Locri Epizephiri (Mirti et al., 2004). However, the possibility to address a more comprehensive investigation about location of production centers and to reconstruct the production system and the circulation of the fine vessels would require the collection of several archaeometric data on red-figure vessels variously founded in different archeological contexts and attributed to as many as painters. The occurrence of both figured vases in excellent conditionand small fragments attributed to famous painters often does not allow the sampling. In the matter in question, the application of non-destructive approach is advisable. For the aforementioned, a selection of red-figure vases preserved at the Archaeological Museum of Gela (Sicily) and stylistically attributed to several painters whose activity has been localized both in Sicily and in South-Italy, have been analyzed by portable X-ray fluorescence method. In detail, measurements have been carried out on both bulk and red surface though a Brucker portable XRF spectrometer (Tracer IV-SD). The obtained results have been processed by statistical methods with the aim to differentiate the provenance of the studied artifacts on chemical bases