Petrographic Characterization of Late Roman African Pottery from J.W. Salomonson’s Surveys: 3. The Workshops of Henchir el Biar and Bordj el Djerbi

Abstract

This paper focuses on the petrographic characterization of African Red Slip Ware from the North Tunisian workshops of Henchir el Biar and Bordj el Djerbi surveyed by J.W. Salomonson in 1968. Binocular observation and thin section analysis have been combined to identify the micro-and macroscopic provenance markers of both workshops that lie within a short distance in the Mejerda Valley. The results of this research, in agreement with previous chemical studies, demonstrated that not only is it possible to petrographically distinguish the workshops of Bordj el Djerbi and Henchir el Biar from each other, but in most cases also from the neighboring workshop of El Mahrine, which generally shows finer fabrics. These data are particularly interesting as the three workshops form a homogeneous group in terms of typology and macroscopic characteristics. Moreover, the apparent petrographic and technological similarities between a few samples and some other not yet located ARS productions open the discussion of the possible presence of other workshops in the same area of the Mejerda Valley.

Keywords

• Tunisia
• African Red Slip Ware
• Bordj el Djerbi workshop
• Henchir el Biar workshop
• fabric studies
• petrography