PER UNA STORIA REGIONALE DELLA CULTURA MATERIALE: I RECIPIENTI IN LIGURIA

The authors review present knowledge reaging the wooden and stone vessels which were extensively used in Liguria in the Middle Ages and modern times. This survey is based on archaelogical and ethnographic remains, and on written and iconographie sources. Different aspects such as production, trade and enduses are also briefly analyzed. In addition a number of written sources are used to investigate the functional relationships between the various types of vessels in four different Middle Age settings: the customs office of the port of Genova, grocers, houses of the merchant class and the fittings aboard galleys. To conclude, several methodological problems are raised, concerned mainly with the relationships between archaeological classifications, historical-artistic collections and censuses of manufactured goods in the context of a regional history of material culture.