Alcohol consumption in Iron Age Messapia: combining organic residue analysis, use-alteration traces and vessel morphology

Alcohol consumption played an important role in feastings and social events in past agricultural societies, helping to establish and maintain social relationships. The study of the Messapian populations of southern Italy between the 8th and the 6th century BC is revealing interesting aspects related to the ceremonial sphere and its relevance in defining the social dynamics within local communities. An indirect evidence of ritual and social practices within the Iapygian culture can be found in the particular incidence of local pottery with a matt-painted decoration and the reoccurring set of drinking vessels: olla, jug, askos and biconical jar. The function of these vessels for the consumption of alcoholic beverages is suggested from morphological and organic residues analyses conducted on pottery recovered from two Iron Age settlements in southeastern Italy, Castello di Alceste and Castelluccio (Brindisi). Both are part of the Iapygian culture of the Salento peninsula, from which the archaeological evidence has suggested that in the 8th century the indigenous populations of this region were engaged in processes of settlement expansion, socio-economic differentiation and elite proliferation, as well as a growing exploitation of agricultural and pastoral resources, also confirmed by botanical and faunal data. The study of matt-painted pottery provides insights both into the emergence of social behaviors and into the development of commensal practices that possibly could have involved alcohol consumption. The pottery shapes and the use alteration traces on the interior of vessels show comparisons with those observed in ceramic vessels used for alcohol fermentation reported in many ethnoarchaeological studies. Organic residue analysis conducted by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) allowed the identification of Pinaceae products (resin/pitch), beeswax, plant waxes together with fermentation biomarkers in the samples recovered from different ceramic vessels found at the two archaeological sites. Based on integrated studies, we suggest that the vessels were used for the consumption of alcoholic beverages possibly derived from cereals or other plants. These preliminary results give the earliest direct evidence of the function of matt-painted pottery and contribute to our understanding of ceremonial and commensal practices among the indigenous communities of southern Italy in Iron Age.