Roman Amphorae: a digital resource
University of Southampton, 2005. (updated 2014) https://doi.org/10.5284/1028192. How to cite using this DOI
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This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
Primary contact
Dr
David
Williams
Dept of Archaeology
University of Southampton
Avenue Campus
Highfield
Southampton
SO17 1BJ
England
Tel: 080 593032
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 463
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1028192
- How to cite using this DOI
Campanian almond-rimmed fabric
Fabric Visual Characteristics
Arthur and Williams (1992: 253) recognized four fabric types for this amphora, all from southern Italy. One of these is the Campanian "Black Sand" fabric, listed separately Almond-rimmed ‘waster’ sherds from a number of kilns in north Campania have been used as a control for Fabric A (Arthur, 1983: Fig.4, no.2, and Fig.5, nos. 7-8 & 14). All the vessels attributed to this group are thought to derive from north Campania. Much of this area is volcanic, as is the region of the bay of Naples referred to under fabrics B and the Campanian "Black Sand" fabric (Desio, 1973). There can be some variety in the fabric of individual vessels, as perhaps should be expected of products of separate kilns spread over a certain distance, though the quantity of volcanic materials in fabric A nearly always tends to be less than that in fabric B and the Campanian "Black Sand" fabric. Fabrics B and C are very similar in appearance to the Campanian "Black Sand" fabric.
Fabric Petrological Characteristics
Fabric A Thin-sectioning shows a range of non-plastic inclusions that commonly include frequent grains of subangular quartz, a few fragments of trachytic lava and volcanic glass, potash felspar, a scatter of clinopyroxene, flecks of mica, occasional amphibole, and sometimes cryptocrystalline limestone. Fabric B This fabric has similarities in thin-section to the Campanian "Black Sand" fabric, although it contains fewer grains of augite while possessing more pieces of volcanic rock. It might possibly come from somewhere within the bay of Naples region. Fabric C In thin-section, this fabric appears quite different to fabrics A, B and the Campanian "Black Sand" fabric. The most distinctive inclusions scattered throughout the clay matrix are small fragments of metamorphic rocks, especially quartz-mica-schist. Also present are discrete grains of potash and some plagioclase felspar, flecks of mica, foraminifera limestone, quartzite and subangular quartz grains. The petrology suggests an origin in a region dominated by metamorphic rocks, perhaps Calabria.
Comments
Equivalent to: CAM AM 1 of the National Roman Fabric Reference Collection (Tomber & Dore, 1998: 88)
Amphora made from this fabric
None.
