On the productive function of furnaces in Archaeological sites

The knowledge on the material production from archaeological sites contains valuable information on the technological advances and on the commercial routes of a civilization. Archaeologists can face some ambiguities in the assessment of the productive function of furnaces emerging from excavation. An easy non-destructive protocol to discriminate among production of lime, ceramics or metals is the aim of this work. Indeed, the work addresses the possibility to assist archaeologists in a vibrational spectroscopy-based identification of the production from furnaces. Reference cases of well-known productive function were used to identify the best vibrational markers of productive and technological interests. The analysis was applied to two unknown cases of interest form Velia [1] and Roscigno [2] (South Italy), archeological sites below briefly introduced. Velia is a Greek colony, in southern Italy, which in Roman age retains its importance for the productive and commercial activities along the Tyrrhenian coasts. The furnace analyzed is built, perhaps in the middle or late Imperial age, on the fortification of the Hellenistic age. Roscigno is an ancient settlement in the innermost area of Cilento, in a position dominating the routes connecting Paestum and the Tyrrhenian coast to the Vallo of Diano; dated from the first half of the seventh until third century BC.