Early evidence for alcohol consumption in Iron Age Messapia (Southern Italy) through organic residue analysis, use-alteration traces and vessel morphology

The paper presents the results of an interdisciplinary investigation aimed at clarifying the function of local matt-painted pottery through organic residue analyses of vessels recovered from two Iron Age sites in southern Italy, Castello di Alceste and Castelluccio (Brindisi). Both sites are part of the Iapygian culture of the Salento peninsula, where since the 8th century B.C. the native populations were engaged in processes of settlement expansion, socio-economic differentiation and elite proliferation, including commercial relationship and cultural transmission with the Greek world, as evidenced by the presence of imported vessels. The major role played by ceremonial practices that possibly could have involved alcoholic beverages, particularly in feasting contexts, is suggested by the rich corpus of local matt-painted ceramics and the reoccurring set of drinking vessels in many Iron Age settlements. The specific content of these vessels has never been investigated by organic residue analyses although the morphology of some pottery shapes and the use alteration traces on their interior walls show comparisons with those observed in ceramic vessels used for alcohol fermentation reported in many ethnoarchaeological studies. Organic residues analysis was carried out by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) on 21 samples allowing the identification of Pinaceae products (resin/pitch), beeswax, plant waxes together with fermentation biomarkers. Based on integrated studies, we suggest that the vessels were used for the preparation and/or consumption of cereal- or other plant-based fermented beverages. These preliminary results give the earliest direct evidence of the actual use of local matt-painted vessels and represent a starting point for a large-scale investigation of local pottery assemblages by organic residue analysis, in order to better understand ceremonial practices within the social development of the native communities of southern Italy during the Iron Age.