Mass production and the spread of ceramic workshops in Iron Age Iberia: an archaeometric perspective

Description

Talk for the HCA Archaeology Seminar Series:

Mass production allows for a set of behaviours viewed as distinctly modern, relating to the mass consumption and mass discard of material goods. Despite its post-industrial connotations, archaeologists have also utilised the term ‘mass produced’ in specific pre-modern cases to describe classes of material goods that are particularly abundant. Traditionally the adoption of the potter’s wheel is seen as an important facilitator for the intensification of production, paving the way for the mass production of ceramics.

In this presentation, I will examine the role of the potter’s wheel in the economies and societies of the Iberian Peninsula and adjacent regions. Initially associated with Phoenician and Greek colonialism on its Mediterranean and southern Atlantic coastlines, this technology spread through the Iberian Peninsula unevenly. The reason why the technology spread in this uneven manner is yet poorly understood. Through chronological mapping and archaeometric research, I investigate different trajectories towards the adoption of this technology across the region and ask if and how it shaped local craft traditions and economies.

Period	1 Dec 2022
Held at	School of History, Classics and Archaeology
Degree of Recognition	National