The supply of ceramics to Portuguese north African strongholds in the 15th and 16th centuries: new archaeometric data from Ksar Seghir and Ceuta

Abstract

The present study aims to present new archaeometric data from a wide typological rank of ceramics collected in Ksar Seghir (Morocco) and Ceuta (Spain), two different archaeological sites in the south bank of the Strait of Gibraltar occupied by the Portuguese from the 15th to the middle of the 16th centuries. We characterise and illustrate the most common ceramic fabrics and shapes found in these settlements, only possible by the intensive excavation of these two sites. Its mineralogical and chemical analyses confirm the idea that Seville and Lisbon were the most significant production centres in the Iberian Peninsula to supply the two Portuguese North African strongholds. These results reinforce the idea that Seville and Lisbon, besides being two great pottery workshops, played a complementary role as key cities in the logistics of the Iberian overseas expansion since its early beginning. The combination of the typological and archaeometrical studies will allow to better identify the centres of production of these ceramics, which were widely disseminated in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean during this period.