Pottery from Roman Malta

Maxine Anastasi

• Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781789693294
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789693300
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Index: Social Sciences

Much of what is known about Malta's ancient material culture has come to light as a result of antiquarian research or early archaeological work—a time where little attention was paid to stratigraphic context. This situation has in part contributed to the problem of reliably sourcing and dating Maltese Roman-period pottery, particularly locally produced forms common on nearly all ancient Maltese sites.  This book presents a comprehensive study of Maltese pottery forms from key stratified deposits spanning the first century BC to mid-fourth century AD. Ceramic material from three Maltese sites was analysed and quantified in a bid to understand Maltese pottery production during the Roman period, and trace the type and volume of ceramic-borne goods that were circulating the central Mediterranean during the period. A short review of the islands' recent literature on Roman pottery is discussed, followed by a detailed contextual summary of the archaeological contexts presented in this study. The work is supplemented by a detailed illustrated catalogue of all the forms identified within the assemblages, presenting the wide range of locally produced and imported pottery types typical of the Maltese Roman period.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright page
• Contents Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Past ceramic research
• Methodology
• Figure 1: Location map of Malta and sites mentioned in text.
• Figure 1: Location map of Malta and sites mentioned in text.
• Table 1: The chronological divisions of assemblages used for the analysis in this study.
• The sites and their assemblages
• Table 2: Number and percentage (RBHS) of imported and local pottery; and the proportion of imported versus local pottery from the Q3 assemblage at Bulebel (n=2408).
• Table 3: Amphorae types from Bulebel.
• Table 4: Number and percentage (RBHS) of imported and local pottery; and the proportion of imported versus local pottery from Foreman Street (n=3621).
• Local Maltese potteries
• Table 5: Number and percentage (RBHS) of imported and local pottery; and the proportion of imported versus local pottery from Museum Esplanade, Rabat, Malta (n=1461).
• Table 6: Amphorae types from the Melita Esplanade.
• Chronology and a discussion of the import trends
• General conclusion
• Local Maltese fabrics
• Catalogue of pottery
• Table 7: Number of ARS fragments from the three assemblages (RBHS).
• Appendix 1: Catalogue entry concordance
• Appendix 2: Pottery quantification
• References
• Back cover