South-eastern Italian transfers towards the Alps during the 5th millennium BCE: Evidence of “Serra-d’Alto” ware within Square-Mouthed Pottery deposits at the Lare 2 cave (Saint-Benoit, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France)

In the framework of the reassessment of the Neolithic Square-Mouthed Pottery series from locus P8, Lare 2 cave (Saint-Benoit, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, South-eastern France), two sherds were identified as possible replicas or importations of fine painted ware (i.e. figulina) from Serra d’Alto contexts (Southern Italy). Combining geological and chemical methods (thin section analysis, microprobe, XR diffraction, XR fluorescence and Scanning Electron Microscopy), a transdisciplinary study was designed for the characterization of the archaeological ceramics and the identification of the clay resources used in their manufacture. The results allow the authors to discount production using a local clay resource. Instead, they support the hypothesis that pottery was traded over a distance of 1200 km, from southern Italy to the Alps. This new data highlights the demand for the products of the Serra d’Alto workshops, which mastered kiln production, as well as the spatial extension and the intensity of intercultural networks during the Early/Middle 5th millennium BCE, a time of increasing social complexity in Europe.