Note sulla produzione ceramica a pasta grigia dell'ager pisanus in età arcaica e classica

The Etruscan gray-paste pottery is one of the local Late Archaic ceramic manufacturings of the Pisa territory, as well as black bucchero and coarse ware with particles of schist, interested by recent studies. This tableware, including mostly cups and a more limited number of closed-shape vessels, is made with fairly fine clay in various grayscale and initially imitates with simplified templates the most common vases manufactured in black bucchero by Pisan workshops. This pottery production is quite durable, starting from the end of the 6th century BC until the late-Hellenistic period, with morphological and technological changes over time. Since the Late Archaic period, this pottery, which in fact can be defined “gray bucchero” as in other districts of northern Etruria, is widespread in Pisa as well as in the settlements placed along the Serchio Valley, the middle and low Arno Valley, the Era Valley and in the hinterland of Livorno. It gained a large favour from the urban and suburban communities of the Pisan territory that widely used the gray tableware as ordinary vessels, in addition to some valuable imported vases.