Provenance and production technology of Early Bronze Age pottery from a lake-dwelling settlement at Arquà Petrarca, Padova, Italy

The present archaeometric study of the Bronze Age pottery found at the lake-dwelling settlement of Arquà Petrarca shows that the complete ceramic repertoire was locally produced. The presence of key inclusions is consistent with the geology of the Euganean Hills, and compositional analogies with some clay materials from the surroundings of Lago della Costa indicate local production. The absence of imported ceramics, even of artefacts of true aesthetic value, indicates that the site was selfsufficient, at least with regard to pottery production. Analogies in terms of stylistic features with the contemporaneous pottery from central-eastern Europe, as in the case of sample S9-1, which also appears to be produced locally, may be interpreted as a duplicate of ceramic objects circulating in the Veneto region but coming from centraleastern Europe.