Middle Helladic firing techniques and their contribution in the identification of inter-regional ceramic traditions

Postgraduate Thesis uoadl:2775721 404 Read counter

Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Προϊστορική Αρχαιολογία
Library of the School of Philosophy
Deposit date:
2018-06-27
Year:
2018
Author:
Kapsali Pavlina
Supervisors info:
Ιωάννης Παπαδάτος, Επίκουρος καθηγητής Προϊστορικής Αρχαιολογίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Γεώργιος Βαβουρανάκης, Επίκουρος καθηγητής Προϊστορικής Αρχαιολογίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Αφροδίτη Χασιακού, Λέκτορας Προϊστορικής Αρχαιολογίας, Τμήμα Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας, Φιλοσοφική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Οι τεχνικές όπτησης στη Μεσοελλαδική περίοδο και η συμβολή τους στην αναγνώριση υπερ-τοπικών κεραμικών παραδόσεων
Languages:
Greek
Translated title:
Middle Helladic firing techniques and their contribution in the identification of inter-regional ceramic traditions
Summary:
This dissertation examines the firing techniques that were used in the manufacture of ceramics in Middle Bronze Age Mainland Greece. Although firing is a very important stage in pottery production, the techniques involved have scarcely been studied in Aegean archaeology. Yet, the study of these techniques allows for the identification and better understanding of pottery-making traditions and, subsequently, of the social dimensions of ancient technology. The transmission of these techniques requires apprenticeship relations to develop. Therefore, they are ideal for identifying and assessing inter-regional technological networks and ceramic traditions. Moreover, firing techniques have a considerable effect on the visual appearance of the finished products. Their choice relates directly to the way people and communities understand the materiality of things.
The motivation for this study was given by the excavation of two Middle Helladic pottery kilns at Plasi in Marathon (Attica, Greece), conducted by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In order to interpret and contextualise these two kilns and better understand the firing techniques in use, it was necessary to include in this dissertation a study of both direct data (i.e. the pottery kilns of the Middle Bronze Age) and of indirect data (i.e. the finished products themselves).
The first part of this dissertation focuses on the Middle Bronze Age pottery kilns of Mainland Greece. It examines in detail the construction technologies involved and attempts to integrate them in their archaeological contexts. This approach allows for exchanges of know-how to be studied at a local as well as at a regional level, and to examine in more detail the organization of production. The second part examines the firing techniques that were employed for the production of the two most important Middle Bronze Age ceramic categories: the Burnished/Polished pottery and the Painted pottery. The pottery of nine well-published Middle Bronze Age sites across Mainland Greece, is then studied in detail. These sites are located as far north as Thessaly to as far south as southern Peloponnese thus covering a wide range of regions and allowing for different practices to be identified in relation to the production of pots.
The comparative analysis of the different firing techniques at play across Mainland Greece in the course of the Middle Bronze Age allowed the identification of at least three inter-regional pottery ‘traditions’. These ‘traditions’, and the social implications stemming from their identification, are discussed in detail at the end of the second part of the dissertation. The results and overall implications of this study are summed up in the Conclusions.
Main subject category:
Archaeology
Keywords:
Middle Helladic, pottery technology, firing techniques, pottery kilns, pottery traditions
Index:
No
Number of index pages:
0
Contains images:
Yes
Number of references:
378
Number of pages:
147
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