The Pottery Industries of the Roman East (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781009514606)

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.

Author: Elizabeth A. Murphy
ISBN-10: 1009514601
ISBN-13: 9781009514606
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/03/2025
Pages: 263
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.49lbs
Size: 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.63d