Approaches to the Analysis of Production Activity at Archaeological Sites

Approaches to the Analysis of Production Activity at Archaeological Sites presents the proceedings of an international and interdisciplinary workshop held in Berlin in 2018, which brought together scholars whose work focusses on manufacturing activities identified at archaeological sites. The various approaches presented here include new excavation techniques, ethnographic research, archaeometric approaches, GIS and experimental archaeology as well as theoretical issues associated with how researchers understand production in the past. These approaches are applied to research questions related to various technological and socio-economic aspects of production, including the organisation and setting of manufacturing activities, the access to and use of raw materials, firing structures and other production-related installations. The chapters discuss production activities in various domestic and institutional contexts throughout the ancient world, together with the production and use of tools and other items made of stone, bone, ceramics, glass and faience. Since manufacturing activities are encountered at archaeological sites on a regular basis, the wide range of materials and approaches presented in this volume provides a useful reference for scholars and students studying technologies and production activities in the past.

Table of Contents

Preface – Anna K. Hodgkinson and Cecilie Lelek Tvetmarken

1. Introduction – Anna K. Hodgkinson and Cecilie Lelek Tvetmarken

2. Working from Home – Middle Kingdom Daily Life on Elephantine Island, Egypt – Johanna Sigl and Peter Kopp

3. Production Moments and Areas in a Big House in Pompeii: The House of Ariadne from the 2nd Century BC to AD 79 – Macarena Bustamante-Álvarez and Albert Ribera i Lacomba

4. The Bone Workshop of the Armoury from the Chariotry of Ramesses II in Qantir-Piramesse – a Case Study – Silvia Prell and Chiori Kitagawa

5. Smoke Signals: The Social Dimension of Glass Production in Visigothic Iberia – David J. Govantes-Edwards, Chloë N. Duckworth, Amaya Gómez and Lauro Olmo

6. Finding Scarab Amulet Workshops in Ancient Egypt and Beyond: ‘Typological’ vs. ‘Material’ Workshops – Stephanie L. Boonstra

7. Using Spatial Analysis for Understanding the Manufacture and Manipulation of Late Bronze Age Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Glass – Anna K. Hodgkinson

8. Some Results of Experimental ‘Roman’ Glass Furnace Projects and Their Relevance for Archaeology – Frank Wiesenberg

9. Investigating Dynastic Egyptian Pottery-Making: Archaeological and Ethnographical Considerations – Sarah K. Doherty

10. Pottery Production in Ancient Sudan: A Case Study of the Pottery from the Slag Heaps of Meroe and Hamadab – Carmen Ting and Jane Humphris

11. Ground Stones: The Product as a Production Place – Adnan Baysal

12. What is a Workshop? – Cathy Lynne Costin

Anna K. Hodgkinson (PhD Liverpool 2014) has recently completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Excellence Cluster Topoi. Her research focusses on Late Bronze Age (LBA) Egyptian settlement archaeology, LBA glass industries and chemical analysis of LBA glass objects. She has conducted archaeological fieldwork at the LBA Egyptian sites of Amarna, Gurob and Qantir.

Cecilie Lelek Tvetmarken (PhD Liverpool 2013) has worked as a post-doctoral researcher on several projects at the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), Berlin, and is currently involved in the joint Iranian-Danish research project ‘Tracking Cultural and Environmental Change’ (Razi University, Kermanshah, and the University of Copenhagen). Her research focusses on architecture and the use of space during the Neolithic in the Near East. She has conducted archaeological fieldwork at several Neolithic sites in Turkey, Jordan and Iran.