Recent archaeological excavations in Málaga city, in southern Spain, uncovered a Late Punic pottery workshop
(2nd-1st c. BC) in association with a large assemblage of red-slip tablewares ascribed to the so-called ‘Kuass
ware’
. These wares, which were very widespread in the Western Punic world, are known to have been produced
mainly in the area of C´ adiz. However, the macroscopic features of the examples found in M´ alaga together with
their association with a probable kiln site suggests the existence of a local production, not reported before. This
hypothesis is examined in the present paper through a science-based approach, which involved the analysis of 20
samples of ‘Kuass ware’ from M´ alaga through a combination of thin section petrography and elemental analysis
by WD-XRF. Results were compared to those of reference samples of ‘Kuass ware’ from the Bay of C´ adiz — their
main production area — as well as to geological samples of clays and sands from the surroundings of the site in
M´ alaga, and to previously published data for Punic amphorae from M´ alaga. The analytical results support the
hypothesis of a local production, effectively confirming the first instance of ‘Kuass ware’ production in the
Mediterranean coast of Andalusia, and provide reference data for ‘Kuass ware’ from the Late Punic city of
Malaka.
