Samian: a use-wear perspective
The Roman conquest of Britain presages extensive changes in local material culture. This elaboration of material meant that people in Roman Britain were continually engaged in making choices and selections in material use for tasks of survival that faced them in their daily lives. Material culture is thus first and foremost something used to achieve an end, yet archaeology, normally being constrained to look at material culture in symbolic and thus semiotic terms, rarely looks at this most human and basic aspect of material culture, the way it was lived. There is thus a rupture between what archaeologists look at and the way material 'existed in the past. This study seeks to provide an alternative archaeological perspective on material culture by an investigation into slip use-wear and use-alteration on sarnian wares in Roman Britain. When a slipware ceramic is used, repeated abrasive .activity can cause the slip II to erode and the fabric underneath to become visible. To assess this process samian from a number of sites across Roman Britain was examined I and these physical i deletions were reduced to numerical information. Patterns were observed in the resulting data, and, rather being deteIlI),ined by macro-level
Whitehead, Alexander
Samian: a use-wear perspective. The Roman conquest of Britain presages extensive changes in local material culture. This elaboration of material meant that people in Roman Britain were continually engaged in making choices and selections in material use for tasks of survival that faced them in their daily lives. Material culture is thus first and foremost something used to achieve an end, yet archaeology, normally being constrained to look at material culture in symbolic and thus semiotic terms, rarely looks at this most human and basic aspect of material culture, the way it was lived. There is thus a rupture between what archaeologists look at and the way material 'existed in the past. This study seeks to provide an alternative archaeological perspective on material culture by an investigation into slip use-wear and use-alteration on sarnian wares in Roman Britain. When a slipware ceramic is used, repeated abrasive .activity can cause the slip II to erode and the fabric underneath to become visible. To assess this process samian from a number of sites across Roman Britain was examined I and these physical i deletions were reduced to numerical information. Patterns were observed in the resulting data, and, rather being deteIlI),ined by macro-level
use_wear perspective roman_conquest britain presage extensive change local material_culture elaboration material meant people roman_britain continually engage make choice selection material use task survival face daily_life material_culture thus first_foremost something use achieve end yet archaeology normally constrain look material_culture symbolic thus semiotic term rarely look human basic aspect material_culture way live thus rupture archaeologist look_way material past study_seek provide_alternative archaeological_perspective material_culture investigation slip use_wear use alteration ware roman_britain ceramic use repeat activity cause slip erode fabric become visible ass process number site_across roman_britain examine physical deletion reduce numerical information patterns observe result data rather macro_level