The Pottery Industries of the Roman East

Craft Communities and Working Practices

Elizabeth A. Murphy

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781009514620
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

What was the social experience of work in the ancient world? In this study, Elizabeth Murphy approaches the topic through the lens offered by a particular set of workers, the potters and ceramicists in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire. Her research exploits the rich and growing dataset of workshops and production evidence from the Roman East and raises awareness of the unique features of this particular craft in this region over several centuries. Highlighting the multi-faceted working experience of professionals through a theoretically-informed framework, Murphy reconstructs the complex lives of people in the past, and demonstrates the importance of studying work and labor as central topics in social and cultural histories. Her research draws from the fields of archaeology, social history and anthropology, and applies current social theories --- communities of practice, technological choices, chaîne opératoire, cultural hybridity,  taskscapes – to interpret and offer new insights into the archaeological remains of workshops and ceramics.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Imprints page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Chapter One Introduction
• Chapter Two Workshops: Models versus Practice
• Chapter Three Process, People, and Working Conditions
• Chapter Four Cultural Practices and Ritual Lives of Potters in the Workshop
• Chapter Five Potting Traditions, Craft Learning, and Product Innovation
• Chapter Six Socially Embedded Technologies and Local Technological Styles
• Chapter Seven Internal Social Dynamics of Industry Clusters: Cooperation and Competition
• Chapter Eight Urban Industry, Topographies, and Community Relations
• Chapter Nine Crafting Communities: Some Final Thoughts on the Social Experience of Roman Workshops
• Glossary of Specialized Potting Terms
• Bibliography
• Index