Re-discovering Ghazni: New Data on the Pottery Corpus from Islamic Ghazni

This paper focuses on the pottery brought to light during the excavations of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Ghazni, Afghanistan, between 1957 and 1966.
The sizeable quantity of collected shards comes from the royal palace and a dignitaries’ private residence, the so-called ‘house of the lustre-wares’.
A catalogue raisonné regarding the identified ceramic productions has been created; the study of the pottery has been also supported by archaeometrical analysis and information gathered from ethno-archaeological studies.
The chronological distance between the excavation campaigns, carried out more than 50 years ago, and the study of the archaeological material necessarily imply a number of difficulties affecting the study. Nevertheless this circumstance has allowed us to undertake the study of the pottery corpus with updated methodology. Furthermore, this study amply benefits from all the information and data obtained from parallel research carried out on other archaeological materials and documentation. Therefore, very interesting results have been achieved by matching the data.
The pottery study primarily helps to clarify some chronological aspects of the history of the palace and the ‘house of the lustre-wares’. The pottery corpus refers to a period between 11th and 16th\17th centuries.
On the basis of ceramic assemblages coming from archaeological contexts it is possible to suggest different phases of construction and occupation of the palace; the study could contribute to date the first foundation of the palace to a period earlier than the one initially proposed by the archaeologists. It’s possible to give more evidences regarding the date of the last occupation of the ‘house of the lustre-wares’.
The pottery study also underlines the change of function and use of the palace over the centuries.
Furthermore, the research provides new historical information about Ghazni and its role, trying to put it in a wider economical, social and cultural context. The collected data testify not only a local manufacture of ceramics, both glazed and unglazed, in Ghazni area, but also a development of technical skills achieved by local potters, especially in 11th-13th century. The good level of pottery production puts the Ghaznavid capital in an original commercial circuit.
Ghazni was also a vital economical centre involved in long-distance trading exchanges in a period at least between 10th and 13th centuries, as fine ceramic wares imported from Iraq, Iran, Central Asia and China demonstrate.