Castelluccio painted pottery: stylistic variability and symbolical communication

Abstract

This paper shows the results of an analysis on the ceramic design of the Castelluccio painted pottery.  We have first identified basic motifs and their arrangements, then we have considered stylistic variation, analysing behavioural patterns in relation to different decorative elements. The study shows how some of them are attested only in restricted areas, while others display a wider range of diffusion. It has been possible to highlight how wide diffused decorative elements could often be differently used in different clusters of sites, for what concerns their arrangement in the decorative space.  In a global perspective, the analysis allows to recognize  a pattern of interaction between sites based on short or middle range multidirectional contacts, where each site seems to re-elaborate autonomously a shared stylistic repertory.