In this book Philip Bes summarises the results of his PhD thesis (Catholic University of Leuven) on the analysis of production trends and complex, quantified distribution patterns of the principal ...traded sigillatas and slipped table wares in the Roman East, from the early Empire to Late Antiquity (e.g. Italian Sigillata, Eastern Sigillata A, B and C, Çandarli ware, Phocean Red Slip Ware/LRC, Cypriot Red Slip Ware/LRD and African Red Slip Wares). He draws on his own work in Sagalassos and Boeotia, as well as an exhaustive review of archaeological publications of ceramic data. The analysis compares major regional blocks, documenting coastal as well as inland sites, and offers an interpretation of these complex data in terms of the economy and possible distribution mechanisms.
The Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project revealed a robust and striking pattern of the extreme dominance (>99%) of locally produced ceramics over six centuries and across different ...depositional contexts (in total over half a million pottery sherds). The archaeology of Jerash points towards an exceptional degree of self-sufficiency in craft products: why? The project team implemented a full quantification approach during excavation, manually and digitally recording and counting all pottery and other classes of artefacts. This enabled a full analysis of trends in production and use of ceramics throughout the archaeologically documented history of Jerash and revealed the unexpected pattern of the extreme dominance of local pottery. Archaeologists formulated a set of hypotheses to explain this pattern, and we developed an agent-based model of simple customer preference driving product distribution to evaluate several explanatory factors and their potential interactions. Our simulation results reveal that preference for locally produced ceramics at Jerash might be a plausible theory, but only if its intrinsic value was considered rather high in comparison to other goods, or if it was preferred by a majority of the population, and there was a tendency to follow this majority preference (or a combination of these factors). Here, we present a complete research pipeline of a full quantification of ceramics, analysis and modelling applicable at any archaeological site. We argue that transparent methods are necessary at all stages of an archaeological project: not only for data collection, management and analysis but also in theory development and testing. By focusing on a common archaeological material and by leveraging a range of widely available computational tools, we are able to better understand local and intra-regional distribution patterns of craft products in Jerash and in the ancient eastern Mediterranean.
Combining the mid-and late Roman periods allows us to take into account the evidence for ARSW, a Mediterraneanwide and chronologically continuous class of red slip tableware. ARSW is not eastern in ...origin, and it thus forms a ceramological bridge between west and east. ARSW became increasingly important in the east from the early 3rd century onwards, which makes it possible to study its development by itself and in relation to contemporary wares. As a result it can contribute to a better understanding of tableware distribution more generally. A second reason to draw attention to ARSW is that since the publication
Definition of the Topic Bes, Philip
Once upon a Time in the East,
07/2015, Letnik:
6
Book Chapter
The study of terra sigillata has come a long way over the past century or so. Dragendorff was the first to attempt structuring the study of terra sigillata, and he recognised that production had ...taken place in several regions of the Roman Mediterranean.⁵⁴ Although nowadays his brief study is of little archaeological importance, it nevertheless still contains some valuable observations: that, for instance, Greece may not have been a major producer of red slip tablewares, and thus that this kind of pottery was largely imported. He also noted the morphological and contemporaneous connection between ITS and eastern products. This set
Pottery production is thought to have taken place on three general levels. First, that of ‘ household or estate production’, archaeologically ‘the most elusive’.¹¹¹⁸ Second, ‘ professional workshops’ ...that mainly catered for local and (close-) regional markets. Several such wares can be tentatively listed for the period under study: Pink Ware,¹¹¹⁹ Pink Powdery Ware, ¹¹¹²⁰ Jerusalem Sigillata,¹¹²¹ Kibyra Ware,¹¹²² Athenian White-Painted Ware, ¹¹²³ Macedonian Grey Ware,¹¹²⁴
Gryneion LRC,¹¹²⁵ Ephesian Red Slip Ware¹¹²⁶ and Asia Minor/Late Roman Light-Coloured Ware. ¹¹²⁷ Circa 40% of the late Hellenistic to late Roman terra sigillata and red slip ware fragments from the urban survey at
Aims and Methodology Bes, Philip
Once upon a Time in the East,
07/2015, Letnik:
6
Book Chapter
With obvious consideration for its methodological and practical pros and cons, as (ancient) pottery was an integral part of many aspects of daily life, it is considered to be a valuable tool to throw ...light on ancient society-/ies. This can therefore be done from a number of angles. For one, studying the manufacture of pottery offers us insights into technological aspects but also people’s choices with regard to shape and decoration, which in turn could tell us something about their actual use during eating and drinking practices. Also, both archaeometrical and archaeological studies make it quite clear that, with varying
Each phase and region discussed in the previous chapter has its geographical, chronological and quantitative characteristics; whereas some regions match one another, others do not, and although the ...quantity and quality of the collected data can definitely be improved, it seems highly undesirable to explain all these differences simply because of quantity and quality. Therefore, these differences suggest the existence of different (economic) exchange dynamics. The purpose of this chapter is to identify geographical, chronological and/or quantitative patterns in the evidence discussed in chapter 3; to seek and determine the nature of these patterns; and what these patterns can reveal
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