Investigating figulina pottery technology in the southern Po Plain through an integrated archaeometric approach

• Multi-analytical archaeometric characterisation of figulina pottery from mid-late Neolithic sites of the Po Plain (Italy). • Results reveal variability in raw material acquisition and paste preparation. • Sherds show technological traits that depart from the local coarse ceramic productions. • Compatible raw materials were likely available within the region. • The socio-cultural implications of figulina production in the area are discussed. Figulina pottery refers to a fine, light-coloured ceramic class commonly occurring in Neolithic assemblages of southern and central Italy and, on the opposite side of the Adriatic Sea, along the Dalmatian coast of Croatia. In northern Italy, figulina pottery occurs in limited quantities during the 5th millennium cal. BCE and seems to diverge from the local ceramic productions in terms of technological choices and firing procedures. In light of these technical considerations, past scholarly research hypothesised the existence of networks involving either the exchange of figulina vessels or dynamics of knowledge transmission between Neolithic communities bearing distinct pottery traditions. In this paper, figulina sherds from five mid-late Neolithic settlements located in the southern Po Plain area of northern Italy have been analysed through a multi-analytical archaeometric approach that comprises macroscopic fabric analysis, thin section petrography, X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) and portable X-Ray Fluorescence (p-XRF). The investigation was carried out with the scope of exploring the technological choices behind the rare figulina pots exceptionally retrieved at the Po Plain sites. Results shed light on the production technology and presumable provenance of the raw materials selected for figulina productions in the region, disclosing possible scenarios of technological transmissions while calling into question the ceramic production model currently hypothesised for Neolithic northern Italy.