An ethnoarchaeometric approach has been followed to identify the textural and compositional characteristics of the ceramic pastes produced in ancient Iaitas/Ietas, an indigenous site located in western Sicily on Monte Iato, a few tens of kilometres from Palermo. This approach was primarily motivated by the lack of discovered Archaic kilns or production sites/workshops and the inability to identify reference groups. Raw clays were sampled in the territory of San Cipirello and San Giuseppe Iato (today’s municipalities both sited on the northern slopes of Monte Iato), together with representative historic tiles and bricks locally produced until fairly recently. Grain-size analysis and experimental firings were performed on the clay samples. A significant number of archaeological ceramic samples (incised and painted indigenous pottery dating back to the seventh–fifth centuries BCE) from stratigraphic excavations on Monte Iato, and hypothesized as local productions on a stylistic-morphological basis, was carefully selected for archaeometric analysis. This set of samples (90 in total, comprising raw clays, historic tiles/bricks and archaeological ceramics) underwent a combined chemical and mineralogical-petrographic analysis to identify any possible compositional matching. This approach enabled the identification of minero-petrographic and chemical markers pertinent to the indigenous Archaic pottery produced at Monte Iato, although no evidence of coeval ceramic kilns has been found so far. Local raw clay sources have been documented and some significant points of the chaîne opératoire adopted in antiquity have been noted (clay mixing and tempering practices). Attesting Monte Iato as a centre of ceramic production and defining both the microscopic fabric and the average composition of local pastes open up new perspectives in the complex issue concerning the production and regional circulation of incised and painted indigenous ceramics in Archaic Sicily.

遵循民族考古学方法来确定古代Iaitas / Ietas生产的陶瓷糊状物的质地和成分特征，这是一个位于西西里岛西部Monte Iato的土著遗址，距离巴勒莫几十公里。这种方法的主要动机是缺乏已发现的古窑或生产场地/车间以及无法确定参考群体。在San Cipirello和San Giuseppe Iato（今天的自治市都位于Monte Iato 的北坡）的领土上采集了原始粘土)，以及直到最近才在当地生产的具有代表性的历史瓷砖和砖块。对粘土样品进行粒度分析和实验烧制。来自Monte Iato地层挖掘的大量考古陶瓷样品（可追溯到公元前 7 至 5 世纪的切割和彩绘土着陶器），并假设为基于文体形态学的本地产品，被精心挑选用于考古分析。这组样品（总共 90 个，包括原始粘土、历史瓷砖/砖和考古陶瓷）进行了化学和矿物学-岩相组合分析，以确定任何可能的成分匹配。这种方法能够识别与Monte Iato生产的土着古陶器相关的矿物岩相和化学标记，尽管到目前为止还没有发现同时代陶瓷窑的证据。当地的原始粘土来源已被记录在案，并注意到古代采用的chaîne opératoire 的一些重要点（粘土混合和回火做法）。证明Monte Iato 作为陶瓷生产的中心，并定义了当地糊状物的微观结构和平均成分，这为解决有关古代西西里岛切割和彩绘本土陶瓷的生产和区域流通的复杂问题开辟了新的视角。