Rethinking Migration and Mobility in the Late Roman West with Ceramic Petrography

Summary

For some time the study of migration with ceramics was considered unreliable or unuseful after the ethnic discourse applied by cultural historians. The idea of 'pots=people' was heavily criticized, and rightly so: for similarities in style can result from mobility in people, goods and ideas. Yet, discarding the ceramic evidence altogether is not the solution. With a proper understanding of the limitations and issues, and ideally supplemented with other datasets, the distribution of ceramics and ceramic technology can be very useful in studying migration and even distinguishing between different kinds of mobility. This poster aims to demonstrate the use of ceramic petrography to investigate migration and mobility in the Late Roman West. By identifying fabrics of traditional house-made pottery from Roman Gaul (local) and several Germanic territories outside the Roman Empire (non-local), the results demonstrate continued traditions, the arrival of new immigrants with ‘foreign’ traditions and new or redefined ceramic productions. On the one hand, these new techniques are the result of technological changes due to restrictions and changes in natural resources, and on the other hand can be linked to choices resulted from the merging of various cultural and ethnic groups.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21197