Shells in the furnace. The contribution of archaeological and archaeometric investigations to the understanding of a peculiar find in the Messapian site of Li · Schiavoni (Nardò, Lecce)

The archae ological investigations carried out between 2021 and 2022 by the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Salento in the fortified Messapian settlement of Li Schiavoni (Nardò, Lecce) focused on the Southern area of the site. Here, near the wall circuit, the remains of a kiln and a storage room were uncovered, which were used in the Archaic period and were intended for the storage and sale of locally produced ceramics and imported pottery. The discovery of a considerable accumulation of shells on the bottom of the kiln documents a cooking activity of the same, which is not immediately understandable in relation to the intended use. In order to identify the composition of the ceramic artefacts coming from the storage area (and presumably produced here) and to verify the possibility of using shell pulverized as a degreaser in ceramic mixtures, archaeometric analyzes was carried out by the cnr-ispc of Florence on some samples of shells and of vases.