Combined petrographic and chemical analysis of water containers and glazed wares in the Early Islamic Vega of Granada (southeast Spain, 6th to 12th centuries CE)

Abstract In this paper petrographic and NAA analyses of two categories of ceramic wares of the early medieval Vega of Granada (southeast Spain) are presented. The vessels analysed include Water Containers and Glazed Wares and were manufactured between the sixth and the twelfth centuries CE. This is the period of the Islamization of Iberia and the emergence of al-Andalus. The studies in this paper offer an opportunity to understand technological, social and economic changes that were part of the pattern of Islamization. The results of this work show that there is a differential pattern of distribution for the samples studied in the eastern and western areas of the Vega and that there is a chronological change in technological variability of the production of the wares under investigation. An earlier period in which this variability is high gave way to a period where the variability is much less and potentially more standardised technological procedures were followed.