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Chemical traces in medieval pottery, combined with the vessels’ archaeological contexts, support the conclusion that wine was produced in Sicily during Islamic rule and traded beyond the island. Finds of Sicilian amphorae in places including Sardinia and Pisa point to Mediterranean exports. The evidence reveals production and exchange—not whether Sicily’s Muslim population drank the wine.
How can pottery reveal what it once held?
Even after a container’s original contents disappear, organic compounds can remain absorbed in its ceramic walls. Researchers analyzed traces including tartaric and malic acids, which can help identify grape products. But chemistry alone cannot distinguish wine from other grape products such as juice, raisins or vinegar. The researchers interpreted the residues alongside the vessels and their archaeological contexts.
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According to the University of York, the team compared archaeological sherds with ceramic fragments soaked in wine and then degraded in soil. The resulting chemical traces were consistent with wine production. The work involved researchers from the University of York and the University of Rome Tor Vergata, and used York’s BioArCh facility. University of York’s account of the study
What period did the study cover?
The study did not examine only pottery from Islamic Sicily. Chemistry World reports that researchers analyzed more than 100 amphorae produced or imported into Sicily across the fifth through eleventh centuries, spanning both pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. Sicily had produced wine before the ninth century, when it was under Byzantine rule. The island came fully under Islamic rule by 902; Norman forces took it in the late eleventh century. Chemistry World’s report on the analysis
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That longer chronological span matters: the study’s significance is not that every vessel analyzed dates to Islamic rule, but that its evidence supports the persistence of wine production and trade across the transition into that period.
What does the evidence show about trade?
Ninth- to eleventh-century Sicilian amphorae have been found on the island and at sites as far away as Sardinia and Pisa, according to the University of York. Their distribution supports the interpretation that Sicilian wine traveled through Mediterranean trade networks.
The researchers’ interpretation is that Sicily’s role shifted from a pattern more centered on imported wine toward local production and export. The available accounts do not provide a trade-volume series, a percentage increase or a measure of how quickly trade grew; “thriving” should therefore be understood as a description of evidence for continued production and far-reaching exchange, not a quantified growth rate.
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No. Evidence that wine was made and traded does not identify who consumed it. The University of York reports no evidence that members of Sicily’s Muslim community drank the wine, and notes that it is difficult to demonstrate alcohol consumption archaeologically. Production and commerce can occur without establishing the beliefs or behavior of particular consumers.
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What are the limits of residue evidence?
Residue analysis is informative, but interpretation has to account for how compounds behave over time. Archaeologist Hans Barnard, who was not involved in the study, told Chemistry World that tartaric and malic acids dissolve readily in water and can leach from pottery; microbial activity can also alter their ratio. He noted that careful selection of artifacts can help manage these concerns. Those caveats reinforce why the chemical traces are interpreted with archaeological context rather than treated as a stand-alone proof.
The University of York describes the method as “quick and reliable,” but that institutional characterization is not a universal performance estimate. The accessible accounts do not establish detection limits, sensitivity, specificity, or detailed uncertainty estimates, so the findings should be read as contextual evidence supporting the researchers’ interpretation—not as a claim that a chemical test alone can identify every vessel’s contents with certainty.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the study adds to Sicily’s history
The pottery evidence offers a way to examine economic life in a region strongly associated with wine: it supports continued production under Islamic rule and exchange reaching beyond the island. It does not quantify the scale of that trade, establish who drank the wine, or show that every analyzed amphora belonged to the Islamic period.
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The study was published in 2021 as “Chemical evidence for the persistence of wine production and trade in Early Medieval Islamic Sicily” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. PNAS publication record
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