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During the Neolithic period, near the North-Eastern coast of the Gargano promontory (Apulia Region, Italy), an important network of mines represented the most ancient European example of systematic exploitation of primary chert sources. These high-quality raw materials were traded between prehistoric communities living on both sides of the Adriatic Sea. However, the Gargano promontory is not the only area of the Apulia Region with chert sources. Secondary sources of the Tavoliere plain deposits and primary sources of the Southern Apennines must be considered in addition to the Gargano chert-bearing limestones. This paper provides an overview of chert sources distribution in the Gargano and Tavoliere plain through a chert sources map based on up-to-date geological and archaeological information. The map represents the first lithic procurement mapping in the Region and it is a very useful tool for planning sampling activities and detect the potential chert sources exploited in Neolithic times. The map was used for sampling pebbles near the coast and inland of the investigated area. A non-destructive multi-parametric protocol for chert investigations (NM-PCI) method was applied to all the collected secondary samples. The results were compared at first with those of the Gargano mines. The output of the partition around medoids (PAM) procedure shows, as a general trend, that primary sources are well grouped, while secondary sources show less clear compositional fingerprints. However, the features of the coastal and inland pebbles are quite different.

Fifty crucible fragments and 10 fragments of the melting furnace of the forest glassworks of Sudel (1723–1741, Ct. Luzern), were analyzed by petrographic, mineralogical and chemical techniques in order to assess the temperature reached in the melting chamber and to find out which raw materials were used to make the crucibles and the melting furnace. Since the crucibles were used in the melting furnace, the temperature estimations were based on both the crucibles and the refractory fragments, as they were parts of the same system. The temperature range in the melting chamber, estimated by the structural order of the new-formed cristobalite, points to a temperature range between 1350 and 1500 °C. However, three crucible samples recorded extreme temperatures as high as 1650 °C, suggesting very high flame temperatures for wood fuel. The analyzed red bricks were made with local calcium-poor clay. One of them was tempered with refractory fragments, demonstrating an in-house production and the recycling of such a material after its use. The crucibles and the refractory bricks were made with the same refractory clay. The former using unprocessed clay and the latter blending clay with chamotte. A comparison with Siderolithique clayey sand samples from the Swiss Jura, shows strong affinities which may rule out the archaeological hypothesis of an exclusive provenance of such clays from Germany, suggesting an import from the Swiss Jura mountains.

This study describes the results of petrographical, mineralogical and chemical analyses carried out on coarse tempered cooking pottery, sampled in the archaeological sites of Herdonia , Posta Crusta (Ordona, FG) and San Giusto (Lucera, FG). From the latter site, two fragments of a pottery kiln, coeval with sherds (IV and V centuries AD), were also investigated. Two groups of clayey sediments of different nature (alluvial and marine) sampled in the neighbouring of the archaeological sites were also analysed. By means of the petrographical analyses, all cooking pottery and the two kiln fragments were grouped in the same coarse tempered group, characterised by the scarce presence of trachytic and glassy fragments, anhedral and zoned augitic pyroxenes and feldspars. PXRD analyses show an abundant presence of quartz and feldspars, followed by pyroxenes and variable quantities of calcite and hematite. Among clay minerals, illite plus muscovite are more abundant than smectite. XRF analyses data display SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 and K 2 O as main oxides, with variable quantities of CaO. In the case of the clayey samples, petrographical investigations on thin-section of psammitic fractions outlined the differences between Argille subappennine (Marine group—Pleistocene) and the alluvial deposits of Celone River (Alluvial group—Holocene). The occurrence of volcanic products, chert, garnet, quartzarenites and limestones in the archaeological materials and in the alluvial samples, let us suppose that cooking pottery was made with alluvial clayey silt. The apparent chemical discordance between pottery and alluvial samples bulk compositions can be due to textural and compositional variability of the alluvial deposits. All ceramics were fired in oxidising conditions, although in many cases a “dark core” was still present. Textural features, observed through petrographical microscope, and PXRD analyses suggested a firing temperature between 600 and 800 °C.