Knowledge Networks and Craft Traditions in the Ancient World

Material Crossovers

Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Ann Brysbaert, Lin Foxhall

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780367868413
• eBook ISBN: 9781135014445
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Arte
• Subtopic: Tecniche artistiche

This edited volume investigates knowledge networks based on materials and associated technologies in Prehistoric Europe and the Classical Mediterranean. It emphasises the significance of material objects to the construction, maintenance, and collapse of networks of various forms – which are central to explanations of cultural contact and change. Focusing on the materiality of objects and on the way in which materials are used adds a multidimensional quality to networks. The properties, functions, and styles of different materials are intrinsically linked to the way in which knowledge flows and technologies are transmitted. Transmission of technologies from one craft to another is one of the main drivers of innovation, whilst sharing knowledge is enabled and limited by the extent of associated social networks in place.

Archaeological research has often been limited to studying objects made of one particular material in depth, be it lithic materials, ceramics, textiles, glass, metal, wood or others. The knowledge flow and transfer between crafts that deal with different materials have often been overlooked. This book takes a fresh approach to the reconstruction of knowledge networks by integrating two or more craft traditions in each of its chapters. The authors, well-known experts and early career researchers, provide concise case studies that cover a wide range of materials. The scope of the book extends from networks of craft traditions to implications for society in a wider sense: materials, objects, and the technologies used to make and distribute them are interwoven with social meaning. People make objects, but objects make people – the materiality of objects shapes our understanding of the world and our place within it. In this book, objects are treated as clues to social networks of different sorts that can be contrasted and compared, both spatially and diachronically.

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Material Crossovers

Introduction

Katharina Rebay-Salisbury, Ann Brysbaert and Lin Foxhall

Knowledge networks are entangled with materials and associated technologies. This volume emphasises the significance of material objects to the construction, maintenance and collapse of human social networks of various forms, which are central to explanations of cultural contact and change. Materiality—the properties, affordances, functions and styles of different materials—is intrinsically linked to the way in which knowledge flows and technologies are transmitted. Transmission of technologies from one craft to another is one of the main drivers of innovation, whilst sharing knowledge is enabled and limited by the extent of associated social networks in place.

The analysis of networks is now recognised as an important tool for understanding the way knowledge is fundamental to social, economic and political relations in both past and present-day communities. Networks of craftspeople and technological traditions across the highly interconnected world of the Mediterranean, c.1500 to 200 BCE, offer case studies through which patterns of knowledge exchange, innovation and technological change can be explored.

Archaeological research, however, has often been limited to studying objects made of one particular material in depth, be it lithic materials, ceramics, textiles, glass, metal, wood or others. The knowledge flow and transfer among crafts that deal with different materials has often been overlooked. This book takes a fresh approach to the reconstruction of knowledge networks by integrating the concepts of the chaîne opératoire and cross-craft interaction.

To integrate the human aspect in the production process, the chaîne opératoire is a useful methodological tool (e.g. Leroi-Gourhan 1964; Pfaffenberger 1998; Schlanger 1994). A chaîne opératoire approach considers all technological and social elements of a specific commodity from the procurement of raw materials to the finished item and extends further into its distribution and subsequent sociocultural biography. Thinking through all steps of production needed from raw material to finished object, steps that are not apparent through the archaeological record may be interpolated and choices and pathways identified. Looking at ancient technological practices as they are embedded socially, incorporating beliefs and traditions and identifying choice and thus human agency, the chaîne opératoire allows for investigating both variability and consistency of artefacts (Dobres 1999, 2009). Through investigating technical systems, we aim to understand social systems in a wider sense, in particular relationships and networks that are brought into being through the various steps of making things.

The chaîne opératoire can help to ‘dissect’ and scrutinise each craft individually, but thinking in terms of multiple chaînes opératoires (Brysbaert 2007, 2011) may identify intersections and overlaps between different materials and practices. Cross-craft interaction (term coined by McGovern 1989; see examples of the concept used in Shortland 2000, Brysbaert 2007, 2011) is, in fact, an important source of innovation. For example, we can consider how certain technologies, such as how to attach a handle to the body of a vessel (Sofaer 2006), are shared between potters and metallurgists, or we can explore how the smooth look of metal is emulated in the finish of ceramic vessels (Vickers 1989). Material crossovers are the physical traces of overlapping networks of production, use and discard of objects.

Both of these methodologies allow us to explore the creation, movement, adoption and adaptation of knowledge in past societies and the realms in which these processes take place. By considering objects as knowledge repositories, we are able to see where innovation emerges and under what circumstances, as well as investigating cases in which innovations do not occur or take hold. The complex entanglements among technical constraints, sociopolitical and economic contexts and the meanings of objects to the people making and using them are paramount here. The strength of our methodologies is that we can use them to unpick and analyse the enactment of these relationships.

This book considers precisely this overlap among two or more craft traditions in each of its chapters. The scope of the book extends from networks of craft traditions to implications for society in a wider sense: materials, objects and the technologies used to make and distribute them are interwoven with social meaning. People make objects, but objects make people (Miller 2005: 18)—the materiality of objects shapes our understanding of the world and our place within it. In this book, objects are treated as clues to social networks of different sorts that can be contrasted and compared, both spatially and diachronically.

The individual authors offer specific case studies to show how the transmission of knowledge from one craft to another took place and how the context in which these crafts are embedded transferred meaning. The chapters show how the creative joining of ideas from several domains results in innovation (Conway, Jones, and Steward 2001) as added value emerges from the meeting of expertise in different domains. In addition, the case studies show the importance of the context of innovation to enable the spread of ideas.

The chapters in this book roughly follow a chronological order and are set in both prehistoric Europe as well as the Classical World. The combination of case studies enables us to transcend the traditional, rather unhelpful, theoretical and methodological divide between prehistory and classical/historical archaeology. The order of the chapters does not mean to imply an evolutionary or chronological trajectory. The stories told in this book are snapshots; they illustrate how people adapt and adopt craft traditions through the exchange of knowledge with other groups and other crafts.

Bleda S. Düring’s work on material and craft networks in prehistoric Asia Minor considers changes in distribution networks from the Epi-Palaeolithic to the Chalcolithic. He argues that despite the interaction that must have taken place between the Fertile Crescent and Asia Minor in the context of obsidian procurement, there was little cultural exchange at first. This changed as labour-intensive goods such as stone vessels and figurines as well as metal artefacts became more common. They helped to create and maintain long-distance networks and might have facilitated the rise of stratified societies. This chapter sheds light on how production processes are embedded in societies and which roles craftspeople play.

Lesley McFadyen and Ana Vale introduce new ways of thinking about the relationship between material culture and architecture in their chapter ‘Buildings that Wrap Objects and Objects that Wrap Buildings’. Architecture is most often understood as wrapping, covering or containing objects, but at times, it is the other way round; in their case studies from Chalcolithic Portugal, the authors show how materials such as schist and clay were used to wrap stone buildings and show the application of knowledge situated in different crafts as contributing to architecture. Further, they consider how both the practice of everyday life and significance attributed to materials and objects contributed to the knowledge flow and transfer between crafts.

‘Talking Shop’, the chapter by Ann Brysbaert, considers the active role of architecture in the context of workshops at the Mycenaean palace of Tiryns. She reviews an often-employed workshop model by considering both the role of movement and confinement in the workshop areas, as well as the role of human and nonhuman agents in spaces which were active participants in social practices that materialised in the workshops. In multicraft workshops, various materials were related to each other by people, and considering the steps of multiple chaînes opératoires, it was possible to identify the points at which people intersected with nonhuman agents in complex interactive networks. The built environment in Tiryns thus played, firstly, an active role in mediating or hindering close collaboration among people, and hence different crafts, and secondly, it illustrated how collaborations were influenced by changing architectural layouts, adopted over time.

In ‘Temporality, Materiality and Women’s Networks’, Alessandro Quercia and Lin Foxhall investigate the production and manufacture of loom weights in the Greek and indigenous communities of southern Italy. Both Greek and indigenous cultures located in Lucania in Magna Graecia made loom weights, but they differed considerably in shape and production technology. Weaving, spinning and textile manufacture were closely linked to women in the Greek and indigenous communities of southern Italy, and the ways they were personalised by marking suggest that women who used loom weights were also involved in their manufacture. By comparing Greek and contemporary indigenous contexts in southern Italy, it became clear that ideas about the manufacture, use and meaning of these objects were moving between these different communities. Simultaneously, they revealed the history of women’s connections and identities, which have been often absent from traditional narratives.

Margarita Gleba expands the theme of women’s involvement in the spread of technological knowledge by considering evidence for the production of ceremonial garments for the early Iron Age elite in Europe. Extensive and far-reaching networks among the aristocratic elites were maintained through mechanisms such as gift exchange and intermarriage. Women served as links between aristocratic families of different communities and created powerful alliances between them. When women moved far away from home, cloth manufacturing tools and technological knowledge moved with them. Textile equipment thus allows us to track their movements, as well as the diffusion of textile technology and fashion.

The study of interactions between basketry and pottery in the Aegean Late Bronze and Early Iron Ages, by Judit Haas-Lebegyev, reveal detailed connections between the crafts. Although baskets are rarely preserved, they were widely used in antiquity. Basketry techniques and shapes are accessible through impressions left in soil or soft clay. Woven mats and baskets were used for the production process and decoration of ceramic vases, but their patterns also inspired pottery shapes and decoration schemes. Reviewing the available evidence for cross-craft interactions between basketry and pottery, the author contextualises the finds and explores their meaning and symbolism in the context of their use as grave goods.

Following actor-network theory, Rik Vaessen aims to break down the divide between active people and passive objects in his contribution on pottery production and networking at Athens during the 11th century BC. He argues that agency is distributed through a hybrid network of people and objects rather than embodied in any single actor and investigates the mechanisms of innovation through this framework. His case study of the development of ‘Submycenaean’ and ‘Protogeometric’ pottery at Athens during the 11th century BC illustrates that pottery was not only the outcome of a constant movement of materials, people and ideas within and between various networks but also transformed the links people could make in the development of social structures.

Justin St. P. Walsh understands skeuomorphic pottery in the ancient Mediterranean in the light of consumer feedback processes. Examining ceramic vases produced by diverse Mediterranean cultures in the Bronze and Iron Ages, he reveals the pronounced influence of shapes and decorations originally developed in metal. Details such as flaring concave rims, carinated bodies, high-swung strap handles, false rivets and shiny slipped surfaces are evidence for the translation of formal characteristics from metal to ceramic media. Far from being functionally adaptive, the use of metallic features often made ceramic vases more fragile or otherwise less useful. However, consumers showed preferences for pottery that resembled more expensive gold, silver or bronze items, and these desires were transmitted as feedback to producers in other cultures. This case study demonstrates clearly how the impact from one craft on another is not a one-way street but established a network of communicative links and long-distance communication.

Katharina Rebay-Salisbury investigates the impact of materials that figurines are made from in early Iron Age central Europe on their shape and use. The early Iron Age in central Europe sees an increased interest in representing the human body on mundane and ritual objects and a rise in the production, use and deposition of figurines. Human figurines were found individually or as sets and were eventually deposited in graves and sanctuaries. The contexts in which they were found can directly be correlated with the quality of craftsmanship. Figurines are made of a number of materials, notably clay, bronze and recycled sheet bronze. The shape of the figurines follows the conventions of depicting a particular kind of person, on the one hand, but is also strongly influenced by the technologies applied in their making. In this chapter, the author argues that the affordances of the materials involved in making the human shape have a considerable impact on the outcome.

‘Signs from the Past’, by Marion Uckelmann, considers the ornaments on shields of the European Bronze Age in the light of cross-craft interaction. Although their function as defensive weapons in combat is central, shields can also be interpreted as symbols of prestige or ceremonial objects. Shields were made of different materials—metal, wood and leather—so different technologies were employed in making them. Some of the metal shields have a distinctive decoration that defines them as Type Herzsprung, which is mainly found in southern Scandinavia. The decoration consists of three ribs around the central oval shield boss; the outer two ribs show a U-formed notch whilst the inner rib has a gap in the same position. This characteristic decoration became an ornamental symbol which was found in disparate regions all over Europe until much later periods. This chapter suggests a much wider distribution of organic shields than indicated by the rare finds and looks at other materials and object classes to explain the widespread distribution of this characteristic decoration.

Marcia-Ann Dobres’s insightful comments conclude the book. She remarks on recent developments of studies of technologies, highlighting the theme of material crossovers, and formulates questions for future research.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Leverhulme Trust for funding the programme ‘Tracing Networks: Craft Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean and Beyond’ from 2008 to 2013, which gave rise to this book. Ann Brysbaert also likes to acknowledge both the A. von Humboldt Foundation (2010–2013) and the Gerda Henkel Foundation (2013–2015) for their generous support during the period that this book was created. We would also like to acknowledge Emma Dwyer for proofreading the manuscript.

References

Brysbaert, A. 2007. “Cross-craft and cross-cultural interactions during the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age,” in S. Antoniadou and A. Pace (eds), Mediterranean crossroads. Nicosia: Pierides Foundation: 325–359.

Brysbaert, A. 2011. “Introduction: tracing social networks through studying technologies,” in A. Brysbaert (ed), Tracing prehistoric social networks through technology. New York, London: Routledge: 183–203.

Conway, S., O. Jones, and F. Steward. 2001. “Realising the potential of the social network perspective in innovation studies,” in O. Jones, S. Conway, and F. Steward (eds), Social Interaction and organisational change: Aston perspectives on innovation networks. London: Imperial Press: 349–366.

Dobres, M.-A. 1999. “Of paradigms and ways of seeing: artifact variability as if people mattered,” in E. S. Chilton (ed), Material meanings: critical approaches to the interpretation of material culture. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press: 7–22.

Dobres, M. A. 2009. Archaeologies of technology. Cambridge Journal of Economics 34(1): 103–114.

Leroi-Gourhan, A. 1964. Le geste et la parole: technique et langage. Paris: Éditions Albin Michel.

McGovern, P. E. 1989. “Ceramics and craft interaction: a theoretical framework, with prefatory remarks,” in P. E. McGovern, M. D. Notis, and W. D. Kingery (eds), Cross-craft and cross-cultural interactions in ceramics. Ceramics and civilization 4. Westerville, OH: The American Ceramic Society: 1–11.

Miller, D., (ed). 2005. Mate...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• 1 Material Crossovers: Introduction
• 2 Material and Craft Networks in the Prehistory of Asia Minor: Transformations in Values and Societies
• 3 Buildings That Wrap Objects and Objects That Wrap Buildings
• 4 Talking Shop: Multicraft Workshop Materials and Architecture in Prehistoric Tiryns, Greece
• 5 Temporality, Materiality and Women’s Networks: The Production and Manufacture of Loom Weights in the Greek and Indigenous Communities of Southern Italy
• 6 Cloth Worth a King’s Ransom: Textile Circulation and Transmission of Textile Craft in the Ancient Mediterranean
• 7 Interactions between Basketry and Pottery in Early Iron Age Attica, Greece
• 8 Craftsmanship at Athens in the 11th Century BCE: Improvisation, Networking and Pottery Making
• 9 Skeuomorphic Pottery and Consumer Feedback Processes in the Ancient Mediterranean
• 10 Materials Make People: How Material Properties and Technologies Contribute to Figurine Shapes in Early Iron Age Central Europe
• 11 A Bronze Age Ornament Network? Tracing the Herzsprung Symbol across Europe
• 12 Concluding and Future Thoughts on Material Crossovers
• Contributors
• Index