Centering the object: between production and consumption in ceramic studies
(2024) 30th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting — Location: Rome (28.August.2024)
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- Abstract
- Ceramic studies have seen very significant progress on two fronts: in analyses of production, on the one hand, with sophisticated archaeometric studies of fabrics and technology; and on the other, in use and consumption, with detailed attention to context and use traces. However, it is unclear where these advances leave the topic of style. It is not as if we can dispense with style; as a method, stylistic analysis can hardly be avoided. We prefer here to position it more productively, given the key work it does in foregrounding the artefact itself as interface between producer and consumer. It obliges us to think not only of how the producer sought to communicate an intended use to a consumer through design, but also of how the consumer interpreted design through use. Our view of style is one that takes account of vessel morphology, surface features and functional affordances in centering the object as a mediator between producers and users. In this way, we seek to build a ceramic methodology, adaptable to various traditions, that can holistically incorporate insights concerning both production and consumption practices. Furthermore, by viewing these practices as substantially economic in nature, we also aim to shed light on both structural and agentive dimensions of the ancient craft economy. Specifically, we are interested in interpretations that reckon with the diversity of economic action, particularly the sexual division of labour and the role of marginalised groups in workshop production and household economy. We invite submissions from various scholarly traditions in later prehistory (e.g. Bronze and Iron Ages) and from across the Mediterranean, that present methods for ceramic analysis that expressly seek to balance considerations on both production and consumption practices through objectcentred approaches. We particularly welcome papers that aim to articulate perspectives from archaeology, art history and anthropology.
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Langohr, C., Knappett, C., & et al. (2024). Centering the object: between production and consumption in ceramic studies. 30th European Association of Archaeologists Annual Meeting, Rome. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/240172