THE TECHNOLOGY OF POTTERY PRODUCTION AND RELATIONAL NETWORKS

2018 ◽  
pp. 91-119
Keyword(s):  
Pottery Production ◽  
Relational Networks

Technological adaptation in Grooved Ware pottery from the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney, or how to make your cordons stick

2015 ◽  
Vol 36-37 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Towers ◽  
Nick Card
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
Late Neolithic ◽  
Exterior Surface ◽  
Technological Adaptation ◽  
Reflectance Transformation Imaging

This paper describes a hitherto unidentified adaptation in Grooved Ware pottery at the Ness of Brodgar, Orkney ( Fig. 1 ). The technological technique adopted appears designed to cope with a common problem of Grooved Ware potters at the Ness: that of detached cordons, where applied decorative cordons on the exterior surface of the vessels are knocked off or simply fall off. The evidence shows that, in the case of one large pottery deposit from the site, some vessel exteriors were specially prepared in order to ensure cordon adhesion. The Ness of Brodgar site is introduced, issues surrounding pottery production and applied decoration in the Late Neolithic, particularly in Orkney, are noted and the problem-solving sherds are described. The paper is illustrated in part by the use of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI).

Ceramic Ring Scrapers : An Uruk Period Pottery Production Tool

Paléorient ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Alden
Keyword(s):  
Pottery Production ◽  
Ceramic Ring

Riflessioni sulle economie dei secoli X e XI

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Molinari
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Tenth Century ◽  
Pottery Production ◽  
Economic Networks ◽  
Local Exchange ◽  
Archaeological Evidence ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
New Information ◽  
Recent Conference ◽  
Modern Economic

Chris Wickham has recently turned his attention to the economic and social transformations of the central Middle Ages. In the same period relations between the Christian and Muslim worlds have been presented primarily in terms of holy war or raids, and hardly ever framed in economic terms. Archaeology can help to answer questions about exchange routes, systems of production and settlement patterns, and pottery provides a key element in reconstructing the complexity of pre-modern economic networks. In this paper I want to compare two case studies. I will first examine the role of Palermo in the internal economy of Sicily and beyond. Recent excavations have provided much new information on the Muslim and Christian periods in its history, and particularly on the city’s planned growth and development as a centre of pottery production and export in the tenth century. I will then turn to the archaeological evidence for Rome, which Chris has described as the most complex city between the tenth and twelfth centuries, both economically and socially, in the whole Italian peninsula. In fact, based on the material evidence, Rome was far less complex than Palermo, and unlike Milan, it failed to take off economically in the thirteenth century. Chris has suggested that the success of the latter city was due to its specialized products, local exchange system and connections with a hierarchy of smaller settlements in the locality. Whilst the archaeological evidence for Milan is much scarcer, these features can usefully be tested as a model against which to compare other cities. Comparing Rome and Palermo it is the Sicilian city that can be said to have had the more vibrant economy, with its exports to multiple rural centres some distance away. Whilst a recent conference has underlined the existence of specialized artisans serving Rome’s elite and its numerous pilgrims, unlike Palermo it did not base its economy on production and mercantile activities.

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