Theme:
5. All Roads Lead to Rome: Multiscalar Interactions
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Divide and Conquer? Advancing Multiscale Theoretical Frameworks for Archaeological Ceramics in Northwestern Europe
Content:
The study of archaeological ceramics in Northwestern Europe has seen giant leaps of development in the last half-century. The increasing accuracy of methods determining ceramic provenance, type, age, production, and consumption led to a proliferation of ceramic specialisms within the profession, the main divisions lying in chronology and materials. The workflows of developer-funded archaeology further encourage these divisions to maximise archaeological potential through being studied by the most appropriate specialists. Specialists, however, often work in isolation having little or no insight into the rest of the archaeological work on the same site which can lead to major epistemological problems (especially for transitional periods) and incompatible workflows between different organisations and countries. Furthermore, while scientific techniques and quantification methods continue to be updated, many of the mainstream theoretical frameworks for interpretation have changed little in the last 50 years.
This session offers a point of reflection on the current state of archaeological theory in ceramic studies and advocates for expanding the scope of ceramic interpretations. By stepping outside the modern boundaries of the material, chronological, geographical, and current theoretical frameworks, we can discover the intersection of approaches and enrich our understanding of archaeological ceramics.
We invite papers from specialists and researchers working on ceramics dated to between the 1st century BCE and the 15th century CE (pottery, ceramic building material, etc.) from Northwestern Europe including but not limited to these topics:
- Theoretical approaches to ceramic production and consumption
- Decolonising the ceramic narrative from production to perception
- Multi-perspective approaches to ceramic micro- and macroeconomies
- Ceramic identities in the Roman world: personal and collective choices of making, using, and discarding pots
- Ceramics of transitional periods (e.g., Late Iron Age – Roman, late Roman – post-Roman)
- Outside the sherd-centric world: intersections of interpretations of ceramics and other artefacts
Keywords:
Pottery, Multiscale approaches, Theoretical frameworks, Methodological intersections, Chronological transitions, Inclusive workflows
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Eniko Hudak (United Kingdom) 1,2
Co-organisers:
Sonja Willems (Belgium) 3,4
Adam Sutton (United Kingdom) 5
Kayt Hawkins (United Kingdom) 6
Vaiana Vincent (France) 7
Affiliations:
1. Newcastle University
2. Pre-Construct Archaeology Ltd.
3. Art and History Museum, Brussels
4. Catholic University Louvain
5. Aurelius Archaeology
6. Archaeology South-East, Institute of Archaeology, University College London
7. INRAP
THIS SESSION CAN NOT BE SELECTED AT THIS MOMENT