The pottery industries of the Roman East : craft communities and working practices / Elizabeth A. Murphy.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Murphy, Elizabeth A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Labor--Rome.

Labor.

Potters--Rome--Social conditions.

Potters.

Pottery, Roman--Middle East.

Pottery, Roman.

Rome--History--Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.

Rome.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 247 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

What was the social experience of work in the ancient world? In this study, Elizabeth Murphy approaches the topic through the lens offered by a particular set of workers, the potters and ceramicists in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Her research exploits the rich and growing dataset of workshops and production evidence from the Roman East and raises awareness of the unique features of this particular craft in this region over several centuries. Highlighting the multi-faceted working experience of professionals through a theoretically-informed framework, Murphy reconstructs the complex lives of people in the past, and demonstrates the importance of studying work and labor as central topics in social and cultural histories. Her research draws from the fields of archaeology, social history and anthropology, and applies current social theories --- communities of practice, technological choices, chaîne opératoire, cultural hybridity, taskscapes - to interpret and offer new insights into the archaeological remains of workshops and ceramics.

Contents:

Cover

Half-title

Title page

Imprints page

Dedication

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Chapter One Introduction

Social History and Labor

Why Potters?

The Archaeology of Pottery Workshops

Ceramic Workshop Studies

Pottery Studies

Material Culture Studies of Pottery

Scope: Defining Ceramic Industries

Geographic Parameters

Chronology

Challenges and Biases

Chapter Objectives and Organization

Chapter Two Workshops: Models versus Practice

Production Organization Models and Alternative Arrangements

Complicating the Model

Modelling Resource Procurement

Complicating the Model: Cultural Taskscapes

Conclusion

Chapter Three Process, People, and Working Conditions

Similar Goods, Divergent Local Processes

Contextualizing Work Process

Putting Labor to Production Task

Seasonality

Chapter Four Cultural Practices and Ritual Lives of Potters in the Workshop

Ceramicist Workgroups

Who Were These Potters?

Individuals and Their Profession: Makers and Their Tools

Ritualized Craft, Ritual Spaces?

The Afterlives of Workshops: Places of Burial

Chapter Five Potting Traditions, Craft Learning, and Product Innovation

Socially Understanding Traditions

Tracking Innovation

Chapter Six Socially Embedded Technologies and Local Technological Styles

Kiln Design Variability across the Region

Identifying Technological Designers

Chapter Seven Internal Social Dynamics of Industry Clusters: Cooperation and Competition

Nucleated Workshops in the Eastern Provinces

Identifying Collaborative Practices within Nucleated Workshops

Conflict and Competition

Mediation Measures

Conclusion.

Chapter Eight Urban Industry, Topographies, and Community Relations

Naming Conventions and Local Industry Topographies

Workshop Structures: Architectural Vernacular?

Industry Status and Visibility

Location of Production: Tension between Push-and-Pull Factors

Pull Factors: Urban Populations as Regular Consumers

Push Factors Influencing Location of Production

Urban Neighborly Relations

Shifting Industrial Cityscapes over Time: Long-Term Effects of Push-and-Pull Factors

Late Antique Cities and Urban Industry

Chapter Nine Crafting Communities: Some Final Thoughts on the Social Experience of Roman Workshops

Tracing Relationships

Final Note

Glossary of Specialized Potting Terms

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 21 Mar 2025).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781009514637

1009514636

9781009514620

1009514628

9781009514613

100951461X

OCLC:

1472089073