I figli di un dio minore. Ceramica e archeometria in Italia. Le origini, le tendenze, i risultati nelle ricerche più recenti: alcuni casi di studio

This is a summary of the relationship between Ceramics and Archaeometry in Italy, starting from 1964, when T. Mannoni established at the Istituto di Mineralogia di Genova “La sezione di Mineralogia applicata all’Archeo logia”, launching the study of pottery with mineralogical and petrographic methods. After the initial phase, when archaeometry was considered a wholly subsidiary discipline, whose contributions were published in appendices to archaeological studies, they have become ordinary, integrated projects, often introduced into international networks, structured on a constant dialogue between archaeologists and archaeometrists. However, much work remains to be done to overcome the cases of bipolarism still evident between the humanities and the natural and numerical disciplines, and to resolve the chronic professional and occupational difficulties of those who direct these interdisciplinary research projects. The approaches, trends and results of some recent research will be presented.