(in Polish) Wheel, Eat, Break, Repeat! An Introduction to Archaeological Ceramic Analysis in the Near East: the Roman to Late Ottoman periods

The main aim of this course is to introduce participants to the fundamentals of pottery of the Near East from the Early Roman to Late Ottoman periods (from the 1st to early 20th century AD). It does so through lectures, the hands-on examination of various pottery samples and the critical elaboration of selected scientific papers. In addition to that, students will be preliminarily introduced to basic quantitative methods and laboratory analyses. The main flow of the discussion during the course will oscillate around various issues related to the socio-economic significance and life cycle of pottery. The program offers participants the chance to acquire fundamental knowledge on the use of mass pottery material in the archaeological record, understand the ceramic production and distribution processes, observe the changing characteristics of pottery for all historical periods discussed, and finally gain familiarity with modern methodology of pottery studies.

The course will consist of lectures, followed by free discussion. It aims to tackle the following topics:

1. Introduction

a. Drawing the chronological frames of the course.

b. Pottery – why do we study it?

c. Introduction to pottery nomenclature.

d. Longue durée of material culture: a life cycle of the pottery sherd.

e. Pottery as a dating tool

f. Pottery and the study of settlement changes.

g. Production and distribution.

h. Culinary traditions and diet.

i. Communal identity.

j. Ceramics and epigraphy (ostraca, stamps, dipinti etc.).

2. Early Roman Pottery 1

a. Rome – the pottery heir of the Hellenistic period.

b. Mass production and distribution of the Eastern Empire.

c. Land and maritime transportation.

d. Sigillata and amphorae in the Eastern Mediterranean.

e. Amphorae and annona.

f. How to supply the army? – Pottery and military organization.

3. Early Roman Pottery 2

a. Table ware pottery (fine wares and table wares) in the daily life of Nea Paphos, Cyprus.

b. Storage vessels – insight into everyday practices.

c. Ceramic lamps and lanterns – types and functions.

4. Middle Roman Pottery

a. Problematic 3rd century AD and pottery production.

b. Reforms of Diocletian and their pottery implications.

c. ARS (African Red Slipped Ware) sigillata and its phenomenon in the Eastern Mediterranean.

5. Late Antique Pottery 1

a. Division of the Empire and its economic consequences.

b. The “Many small markets” economy seen through the prism of ceramics.

c. From cities to rural settlements – changes in the economic strategies at the end of 4th c. AD. Case studies of southern Jordan and Thebaid (Egypt).

6. Late Antique Pottery 2

a. Long-distance trade – importation and exportation of pottery.

b. Red Sea ports and its characteristics – a case study of maritime economies of Ayla/Aqaba (Jordan) and Berenike (Egypt).

c. Relations between coast and inland settlements – case studies of Cilicia (Turkey), Wadi ‘Arabah (Jordan) and the Eastern Desert (Egypt).

7. Transition from Late Antique to Early Islamic periods

a. Fall of the Empire – Reign of Justinian and its consequences.

b. The end of annona and the Persian annexation of Egypt.

c. Arab conquests – change or continuity?

d. Dichotomy between rural and urban landscapes.

e. Regional differences (the Levantine coast, northern Syria, the Negev, southern Jordan).

f. Differences in pottery distribution according to settlement type.

g. Emergence of new pottery categories.

8. Transition from Early to Middle Islamic periods

a. Fading of late antique traditions.

b. Causes of the change in consumption and aesthetic patterns.

c. Dating dilemmas.

d. Deconstruction of the 10th and 11th-century settlement decline paradigm.

9. Handmade pottery in the Levant

a. A step back in time: the return to the handmade pottery production.

b. The longevity of forms and typological conservatism.

c. Pottery as a long-living component of material culture.

d. Regional differences.

e. Ethnographic horizon.

10. Middle Islamic Pottery

a. New pottery categories and consumption patterns.

b. Glazed and coarse ware pottery – differences in distribution patterns.

11. Ottoman and Modern Pottery

a. Changes in distribution models.

b. Imports and exports – Europe and China.

c. Modernization of consumption trends.

d. Tobacco pipes and coffee finǧān.

e. Mass-printed pottery.

12. Visit to the Faculty of Geology

a. Introduction to laboratory analyses – chemical and mineralogical composition of ceramic paste.

13. Summary

Orton, C. R.,

1993 How many pots make five? An historical review of pottery quantification, Archaeometry 35 (2), 169-184.

Gawlikowski, M.,

2017 The Indian trade between the Gulf and the Red Sea, Polish Archaeology in Mediterranean 26 (2), 15-30.

Romanowska, I., Lichtenberger, A., Raja, R.,

2021 Trends in ceramic assemblages from the Northwest Quarter of Gerasa/Jerash, Jordan, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 36.

Gabrieli, R. S.

2015 Specialization and Development in the Handmade Pottery Industries of Cyprus and the Levant, [in:] J. Vroom (ed.), Medieval and Post-Medieval Ceramics in the Eastern Mediterranean. Fact and Fiction, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Byzantine and Ottoman Archaeology, Amsterdam, 21-23 October 2011 [=Medieval and Post-Medieval Mediterranean Archaeology Series 1], Leiden: Brepols, 131-155.

Gascoigne, A. L.

2013 Cooking pots and choices in the Medieval Near East, [in:] J. Bintliff and M. Caroscio (eds), Pottery and Social Dynamics in the Mediterranean and Beyond in the Medieval and Post-Medieval Times [=BAR International Series 2557], Oxford: Archaeopress, 1-10.

Johns, J.

1998 The Rise of the Middle Islamic Hand-Made Geometrically Painted Ware in Bilād al-Shām (11th-13th Century A.D.), [in:] R. P. Gayraud (ed.), Colloque International d'archéologie islamique, IFAO, Le Caire, 3-7 février 1998 [=Textes arabes et études islamique 36], Le Caire: Institut français d'archéologie orientale, 65-93.

Taxel, I.

2018 Fragile Biography: The Life Cycle of Ceramics and Refuse Disposal Patterns in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine [=BABESH Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology 35]. Paris, Leuven, Bristol: Peeters.

Vokaer, A.

2010 Cooking in a Perfect Pot. Shapes, Fabrics and Function of Cooking ware in the northern Syria, [in:] S. Menchelli, S. Santaro, M. Pasquinucci and G. Guiducci (eds), LRCW 3. Late Roman Coarse Wares, Cooking Wares and Amphorae in the Mediterranean. Archaeology and archaeometry. Comparison between Western and eastern Mediterranean [=BAR International Series 2185 (I)], Oxford: Archaeopress, 115-129.

Students know basic nomenclature regarding the chronology and periodization of the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Near East (KW02).

By completing this course, the students are able to preliminarily identify the origin and production methods of a wide range of wares produced across the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Near East. Moreover, they have a basic knowledge of the typological diversity of the pottery from this wide chronological span (KW03). They can further use this knowledge to study the communal identity and social structure of the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic society (KW06). Finally, the students have a basic knowledge of the main trends in the scientific discourse of the ceramic studies and is familiar with the crucial topics and paradigms discussed by scholars of the classical and post-classical periods (KW08).

The students know and understand basic methods of analysis of the ceramic records in the Near East (KW09).

The students understand the main trends in production and distribution of pottery classes of the Roman, Byzantine and Islamic Near Easr (KW07).

The students can select, analyze, and evaluate information about the certain subjects related to the archaeology of the Near East using scientific literature, internet resources (KU01), and other sources of information (KU02), and later identify, and classify them (KU12). They can further interpret ceramic in their archaeological context and select proper analytical methods by themselves and finally present the results (KU03).

The students recognize the importance and potential of pottery records as a source of knowledge about human past (KK02), and their role in our understanding of the settlement evolution of the Near East (KK03). Moreover, the object handling and recognition skills developed in this course will prepare the students for further research (KK05). Simultaneously, they understand the need for verification of the obtained data by application of various methods from other disciplines.

A short paper and active participation in classes are required, along with preparation for each class, including the obligatory reading of short texts.