Panel 3.1 – Production beyond the palaces: Technological and organizational aspects of LBA ceramic manufacture


Organiser/Chair:

  • Natalie Abell (University of Michigan)
  • Jill Hilditch (University of Amsterdam)

External Discussant:

  • Michael Galaty (University of Michigan)

Panel abstract

Shifts in the organization and technologies associated with craft production have long been recognized as inextricably linked to economic change and development. In Late Bronze Age (LBA) contexts, craft production has, until very recently, been seen as an activity closely tied to the Minoan and Mycenaean palaces, and undertaken by specialists or workshops "attached" in one way or another to those institutions. Yet, several recent reassessments of LBA economy have clarified how some production and economic activity took place at the fringes of—or wholly outside of—palatial oversight. Examination of variation in the organization and techniques of ceramic production holds promise for further elucidating the complexity of LBA economies, providing insight into interaction and transfer of technological knowledge between ceramic and other craft specialists, and highlighting variability in how producers did (or did not) respond to the changing exchange patterns and consumer expectations. In addition, despite decades of attention focused primarily on the production of fine and painted wares, recent work has turned to examining coarse, cooking, and even architectural ceramics with a view to explicating where these kinds of wares were produced and what kinds of technologies were employed in their manufacture. Thus, this panel brings together papers focused on these aspects of LBA ceramic production as a means of encouraging comparisons within and between regions, between coarse, cooking, and fineware production, and at different degrees of separation from palatial interest and oversight.

 

Paper abstracts

1.  Natalie Abell (University of Michigan) / Jill Hilditch (University of Amsterdam)

Late Bronze Age Production beyond the Palaces: Introduction

 

2. Julie Hruby (Dartmouth College)

Using Mycenaean Palaces and Potters as a Mechanism for Understanding How Context and Intensity (Don’t) Work as Models with which to Describe Craft Production
The tablets from the prehistoric Palace of Nestor at Pylos in Greece record four potters; one named Piritawo is “wanakteros” (“royal”). Given his ties to the palace, we would expect to consider him an attached specialist, yet he fails to meet other criteria traditionally associated with the term. This suggests that the term “attached” conflates patronage with quality of output. Despite being a primary supplier for the palace, Piritawo makes vessels that are metrically variable, reflecting a range of factors including carelessness, seasonality, and level of task specialization; these factors indicate that at best, the definition of intensity also requires additional nuance.
Whether our goal is to understand a potter’s lived experience, examine the apportioning of ancient labor, or create a statistical argument for craft specialization, it is critical that we understand the full process of ceramic production. A craftsman who works “part time” (either seasonally or day-by-day) may create more standardized vessels than does a “full time” specialist if the former only shapes pots while the latter digs and prepares clay, forms it, and fires the resulting vessels. Production can be undertaken by a single individual, divided among several (each of whom is responsible for a different task), or shared; it may prove more useful, though methodologically challenging, to discuss ancient artisans in terms of how much time they dedicated to each specific production task.

 

3. Lynne Kvapil (Butler University) / Kim Shelton (University of California) / Debra Trusty (University of Iowa)

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Examining the role of choice in pottery production at Petsas House, Mycenae
Petsas House, located in the immediate vicinity of the palace of Mycenae, provides an opportunity to study and understand variations in fine and cooking ware vessels from the perspective of both production and consumption. Petsas House, destroyed late in the LHIIIA2 period, was used for habitation and storage in addition to ceramic production and is one of the few examples of multi-use space in a settlement during this period of palatial expansion and centralization. Choices made by potters during production demonstrate an understanding of the need for standardization balanced with a desire for experimentation and innovation.
Within the Petsas House workshop, surviving traces of vessel construction and technical gestures in undecorated fineware and cooking pots speak not only to workshop organization but elucidate the potters themselves. Fine details, such as methods of handle and tripod leg attachments, reveal preferences and skill levels of individual craftspeople. Beyond the workshop, the syntax between surface decoration and vessel shape in painted fineware vessels suggests pots were crafted as much for official use as for individual consumers.
The result of this investigation reveals a sensitivity on the part of artisans to the needs of a consumer base that included, but was not limited to, palatial society. In order to meet the needs of their clientele, multiple potters found ways to standardize production while also reserving the ability to experiment in their craft.

 

4. William Gilstrap (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

The protean potter. Economic strategy and social organization in prehistoric complex societyAt the height of Mycenaean culture, from storage to shipment to service, pottery was relied upon as a choice material for vessel production. The raw materials were widely available and the process of production had already become a craft honed by specialized artisans. The sheer quantity of pottery found in excavation records conjures images of a ubiquitous presence and juxtaposes the question of what role both product and producer had in the lives of everyday people atop the citadels and in the fields. The research presented here approaches this topic through an assay of broad typological assemblages from twelve contemporary, yet contextually very different archaeological sites in and around the Saronic Gulf.
An integrated program of analysis reveals a resounding complexity in the structure of Mycenaean social and economic interaction at a variety of scales. For example, observations of both pottery production and consumption make it plain that craftsmen had the ability to act as agents of the palatial elite and the day to day consumer all while participating in trade on the interregional scale. Rarely has it been considered that craftsmen had a multidimensional role in complex societies. Rather these roles are too often considered as completely separate entities. In treating craft production as a composite system, the organizational structure of Mycenaean economic strategy – local, regional, interregional and beyond, becomes much easier to envision.

 

5. Kyle Jazwa (Duke University)

Non-Palatial Architectural Ceramics in LBA Mainland Greece: Design, Production, and Use
In this paper, I consider the invention, production, and use of architectural ceramics (roofing tiles, built drains, etc.) for non-palatial architecture in Late Bronze Age (LBA) mainland Greece. Categorically, architectural ceramics are at an archaeological middle ground between pottery and architecture. Although they share a material medium with pottery, architectural ceramics have distinct uses and, due to their function, are highly visible. As architectural elements, however, they are also unique, because they require greater labor investment for production relative to their vernacular counterparts. Thus, the extensive use of architectural ceramics in LBA buildings certainly provided a monumental quality to the buildings they adorned. Despite this, such buildings are often not primary palatial structures, but are more often found on subsidiary buildings or at non-palatial sites. This paper explores the implications for the production and use of these architectural ceramics in these non-palatial contexts. First, I show that the use of architectural ceramics had variable meaning in Greece, according to local manufacturing capabilities and labor organization. I then explore the contribution of architectural ceramics to non-palatial ceramic economies and detail cross-craft interaction for each industry. Trained potters are shown to have produced some architectural elements, such as cover tiles, but other elements drew on established architectural traditions.

 

6. Natalie Abell (University of Michigan) / Evi Gorogianni (University of Akron)

Pottery Production on Late Bronze Age Kea: Organizational Perspectives
Patterns of ceramic production and distribution changed significantly during the Aegean Late Bronze Age (LBA). In the Cyclades, exchange networks reoriented from a focus in the Minoan and Minoanized southern Aegean toward the Mycenaean mainland; local manufacturing choices also shifted, with a nearly complete cessation of production of decorated tableware by LBA III. It has been argued that such changes are a result of the development of mainland workshops and the emergence of the palaces as major production and consumption hubs. Yet, the precise mechanisms by which these changes occurred remain unclear, in part because of a rarity of analyses that highlight the ways in which local producers and consumers—especially outside the “palatial cores”—made choices over time that contributed to changing patterns in material culture.
This paper examines local ceramic production at the Bronze Age town of Ayia Irini on the Cycladic island of Kea, at the fringes of palatial territories. We examine the manufacture of local ceramic objects, including both decorated and plain wares, from tableware to storage jars, in order to examine shifts in the organizational configurations of production to meet demand in various ceramic categories over time. We argue for a more complicated picture of local production than has been implied by previous narratives and suggest that shifting production mechanisms impacted the changes in Keian ceramic assemblages in the LBA.

 

7. Emilia Oddo (Tulane University)

Palatial and nonpalatial pottery production from domestic neopalatial contexts: an inter-regional case study
This paper presents the comparative analysis of two contemporary domestic pottery assemblages from two different sites: Knossos (House of the Frescoes), in north-central Crete, and Myrtos-Pyrgos (House B), on the southeastern coast. Although both domestic contexts, the assemblages pertain to different social contexts and are representative of different regional ceramic styles. In terms of social contexts, a comparison between the two assemblages offers the opportunity to reflect upon the way pottery can provide information concerning the character of its broader architectural contexts (elite architecture, House of the Frescoes, and non elite, House B), the variety of human activity related to the area, as well as the nature of the sites (palatial, Knossos, and non-palatial, Myrtos-Pyrgos). In the comparison, I will take into consideration shape typologies and functions, as well as decorations, to draw attention to inter-regional patterns of production and consumption. As we will see, despite the perceived unity of Neopalatial pottery production, once a part of the cultural koine, regional variability dominates the field.

 

8. Charlotte Langohr and Iro Mathioudaki (Université catholique de Louvain)

Ceramic traditions in Palatial Crete in the longue durée. Examining shifts in pottery consumption and production at Malia and Sissi, north-east Crete
Malia and Sissi are centuries-old Minoan settlements located at 4 km of distance on the northeastern coast of Crete, 40 km east of Knossos. This paper aims at examining main shifts in table, coarse and cooking wares consumption and production at two neighboring sites in adopting a broad chronological perspective. Malia was one of the major palatial centres of the island; it knew its moment of glory during the First Palaces period before its violent destruction and following rebuilding during the Second Palaces period. The secondary site of Sissi was densely occupied throughout these periods of the Middle and Late Bronze Age; it knew a totally new layout and extension by the beginning of the Second Palaces period. Our current research focuses on refining and comparing the respective local ceramic sequences in order to shed some light on the developments and changes in pottery traditions at both sites. In the framework of this panel, by highlighting and contextualizing the main shifts in the consumption and production of different categories of pottery from both Malia and Sissi, it will be shown how these traditions meet or differ within this region. In doing so, we aim at opening a new window on processes of continuity and rupture at two regional palatial and non-palatial sites of North-central Crete, before, during and after the transition of the First and Second Palaces which sees the formation of a new political and socioeconomic geography for the island.

 

9. Jill Hilditch and Caroline Jeffra (University of Amsterdam)

As the world turns: technological approaches to assessing ceramic production within and beyond the palaces in the LB Aegean
The focus on unpacking material changes at the transition between the Mid and Late Bronze periods, known widely as Minoanisation, has reassessed the interactions that facilitated the movement of people, objects and technological knowledge off Crete. These new methods open further questions on whether a technological focus can offer new insights into the Mycenaean world.
It is clear that traditional narratives for the initial adoption and use of the pottery wheel within the Mycenaean period are not satisfactory. The emergence of wheel-throwing remains a poorly understood innovation within the Aegean, chronologically and spatially. It now seems clear that wheel-coiling persisted across this landscape throughout the later phases of the Bronze Age, with many regions revealing co-existing ceramic traditions. So, how can we use this information to shed light on the organisation of Mycenaean potting communities? The LB III period across the Aegean is marked by enormous social, political and economic differences, perhaps best represented by palatial vs. non-palatial settlement contexts. This paper explores choices in ceramic forming techniques to assess potting communities during this complex period, for example:
Is there a clear relationship between organisation of production and the potter’s wheel within Mycenaean palatial centres and non-palatial settlements?
Can the adoption and extent of wheel-throwing shed new light on the relationship between Cretan and mainland communities?