Wheel of Fortune: Ceramic Analysis and the Study of Technology, Exchange, and Sociopolitical Change in the Mediterranean and Greater Near East

The ubiquity of ceramics in excavation renders them one of the most productive types of data for the study of social, economic, and political processes in ancient societies. Advances in digital and scientific techniques have supplemented traditional methods of analysis, opening new avenues for exploring larger anthropological questions through ceramic study. The aim of this session is to survey the diverse methods available for the use of ceramics data in research examining economic and political changes and socio-cultural phenomena. Topics addressed will include the adoption of new dining customs, the transference of technological knowledge between master potter and apprentice, change and disintegration of political economies, imperial integration of consolidated regions, and the nature of trade systems and their governing political structures. A variety of analytical approaches will be employed within session papers, ranging from chemical and petrographic studies of clay sourcing and production technique, functional use and contextual analyses, and distributional and network approaches to object mobility. This session will incorporate datasets from broad regions of the Mediterranean and Greater Near East from prehistory to the Roman period.