This dataset includes the mineralogical data obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses on sugar pots retrieved in Sicily from 11th-16th cent. AD contexts. These data were collected as part of the project “SPotEU: Sugar Pot manufacture in Western Europe in the medieval and post-medieval period (11th -16th centuries AD)”, funded under the Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (grant agreement: 797242).

Sample preparation methodology: manual pressing of some of the received powder materials, by means of a glass plate to get a flat surface, in cylindrical standard sample holders of 16 or 27 millimeters of diameter and 2.5 millimeters of height. Instrument and experimental conditions: PANalytical X’Pert PRO MPD powder diffractometer in Bragg-Brentano θ/θ geometry of 240 millimeters of radius. Ni filtered Cu Kα radiation: λ = 1.5418 Å. Work power: 45 kV – 40 mA. Divergence slit of 0.5º. Mask defining a length of the beam over the sample in the axial direction of 12 millimeters. Incident and diffracted beam 0.04 radians Soller slits. Sample spinning at 2 revolutions per second PIXcel detector. Active length = 3.347 º. θ/2θ scan from 5 to 80 º2θ with step size of 0.026 º and measuring time of 100 seconds per step.

The dataset also includes a file with a description of each sample.