223 Some Archaeological and Archeometric Observations on Two Amphorae from the Venice Lagoon Iwona Modrzewska Institute of Archaeology Warsaw University Giancarlo Taroni Venezia and Franco Pianetti † Introduction 1 In previous projects we have proposed certain observations regarding the amphorae from the northern Venetian lagoon (Modrzewska 1995; Modrzewska 1996, 11-116, fig. 15; Modrzewska 1998), particularly for late period ceramics unearthed in excavations conducted by the Polish Academy of Sciences on the island of Torcello (Leciejewicz, Tabaczyńska, Tabaczyński 1977; Modrzewska 1999a; Modrzewska 2000a, 20-25; Torcello New Excavations. 2000; Modrzewska 2000b, 67-82) and for the many discoveries made by Ernesto Canal (Canal 1995; Canal 1998). 2 Our research has also reviewed the changes to the surroundings in the lagoon area. In fact the Venetian lagoon findings are comprised not only of amphorae, but also constructions in stone and wood often strengthened with the insertion of amphorae, brought to the lagoon via sea; and of empty or broken containers (Dorigo 1995; Ferretti, Modrzewska, Pianetti 2005). An area particularly rich in findings is that near the lagoon harbour station, where many amphorae have been found coming from the East Mediterranean, especially Kos Crete and southern Italy. Even containers from North Africa can be found in the lagoon and, subsequently, on the Venetian mainland (Cacciaguerra 1990, fig. 43, 44). Imports from the Iberian Peninsula are not frequent, as is characteristic of the era of the first Roman imperial period (Cacciaguerra 1990, fig. 45; Modrzewska 2001). In this paper we want to examine two examples from the Venetian lagoon unearthed by E. Canal: a fragment of amphora from the site called Chiese Bruciate (Fig. 1) (Modrzewska 2010) and a discovery from the Rigà channel (Fig. 2), that we have already subjected to a formal analysis (Modrzewska 2004). Besides the archaeological analysis (part I), the two fragments will undergo an archeometric and statistical analysis (part II) in order to verify the comparisons and the proposed dating. Part I–The archaeological context The amphora from the site called Chiese Bruciate (Fig.1) is very similar to the amphora that we published, discovered in the Rigà channel (Fig. 2) (Modrzewska-Pianetti 2004). The amphora of Chiese Bruciate has a neck that resembles a widely open funnel, a round handle attached under the rim and a very evident curvature of the shoulders. The rim is separated from the neck with a high quality moulding that is marked with an incision. The amphora 1 This paper is fondly dedicated to the memory of Franco Pianetti, geologist of CNR, Venice. The first results of this study were published in ‘Archeologia e Calcolatori’ (Paola Moscati, ed.) 21, 2010. 2 Some of the material discussed here was provided by E. Canal. The majority of the material is now with the Archaeological Superintendence of the Veneto. of the Rigà channel has one shoulder (Fig. 2). By pure chance on both the amphorae only a single handle remains, lacking the inferior section. For the amphora of the Rigà channel we could not measure the colour values of the ceramic paste, but we had the opportunity to do this for the amphora of Chiese Bruciate. The amphora discovered at the Chiese Bruciate site has a conserved height between the handle attachment and the surface of the rim of 11.5cm, with the latter being highly smoothed and slightly angled inwardly with a thickness of approximately 2cm. The wall thickness of the conserved part of the neck is 0.9cm and the part at the beginning of the right shoulder is 0.5cm. On the edges of the fractures on the neck, shoulders and attachment of the missing handle are traces of concretions of molluscs, proving that the fragmenting of the amphora is old. The height of the neck with a slight funnel profile is 4cm measured from the attachment of the handle. The handle is very well attached both to the rim and to the shoulder. It was possible to measure that the missing handle was 2.8cm thick. The potter’s wheel marks could be seen inside the neck of the amphora and at the edges of the shoulders. The ceramic mixture of the Chiese Bruciate amphora is also very compact and differentiated between the inside (Munsel 5XR5/8) and outside (M 10 YR 4/1). The external colour of the paste is not uniform and highly contaminated by the concretions of the lagoon deposits. In the cross-section of the fractured walls the fabric is very fine without any trace of mica, with tiny grains of ceramic paste. The amphora of the Rigà channel has very similar characteristics: the clay is thoroughly cooked, thin, terracotta colour, highly eroded by the lagoon deposit organisms where it lay for many centuries. Identifying the amphora is rendered difficult by its incompleteness, as is the case with the amphora from the Chiese Bruciate site. Both amphorae represent the least common type amongst the various Eastern Mediterranean forms, known as Late Roman, of all those discovered in the northern lagoon area (Modrzewska 1996, 25-40; Modrzewska 1998; Modrzewska 2006). The situation differs for the percentages of amphorae imported to the various regions of Gallia Cisalpina, but we should consider the state of the research and the casual nature of the discoveries (Modrzewska 2001). The pieces of amphorae unearthed by E. Canal come from the Torcello, Costanziaco (Canal 2013, 326-353) and S. Ariano regions, as well as Lio Piccolo, which is a lagoon site situated close to where the mentioned two amphorae were discovered (Modrzewska 1998, 267-271). These two examples from the Rigà channel and Chiese Bruciate are similar enough to the usual vase forms in the lagoon pertaining to the Late Roman 2 period (Riley 1979, 218). The same Late Roman 2 examples