African red slip ware in the western Mediterranean : an economic and demographic reappraisal
This thesis argues that archaeologists have ignored fundamental aspects of ceramic assemblage formation. The factors that are traditionally invoked to explain quantitative variation in ceramics are such things as distance from source, breakage rates and trade flows. These considerations are all perfectly valid. However, this thesis argues that it is essential that we also consider the effects of changing eating habits. Using the example of African Red Slip Ware (ARS), a particularly common late Roman fineware in the Mediterranean, it is shown that changes in dining practices can have had dramatic effects on the amount of pottery that would have been used at any given period in time. A model is developed for the circulation of ARS which takes these culinary changes into account. It is argued that the changes were related to the role of the ancient meal as a means of negotiating ethnic identities. Specifically, it is suggested that many of the observed changes can be related to the rise of early Christianity. This model is then used to challenge long-accepted views of the Roman economy and late Roman rural demography, both topics in which ARS plays an important role. It is argued that the traditional view of
Hawthorne, John
DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World ; CC Archaeology
African red slip ware in the western Mediterranean : an economic and demographic reappraisal. This thesis argues that archaeologists have ignored fundamental aspects of ceramic assemblage formation. The factors that are traditionally invoked to explain quantitative variation in ceramics are such things as distance from source, breakage rates and trade flows. These considerations are all perfectly valid. However, this thesis argues that it is essential that we also consider the effects of changing eating habits. Using the example of African Red Slip Ware (ARS), a particularly common late Roman fineware in the Mediterranean, it is shown that changes in dining practices can have had dramatic effects on the amount of pottery that would have been used at any given period in time. A model is developed for the circulation of ARS which takes these culinary changes into account. It is argued that the changes were related to the role of the ancient meal as a means of negotiating ethnic identities. Specifically, it is suggested that many of the observed changes can be related to the rise of early Christianity. This model is then used to challenge long-accepted views of the Roman economy and late Roman rural demography, both topics in which ARS plays an important role. It is argued that the traditional view of
african red slip ware western_mediterranean economic demographic reappraisal argues archaeologist ignore fundamental_aspect ceramic_assemblage formation factor traditionally invoke explain quantitative variation ceramic thing distance source breakage rate trade flow consideration perfectly valid however_argue essential also_consider effect_change eat habit using_example african red slip ware particularly common late_roman mediterranean show change din practice dramatic effect amount pottery would use give period_time model_develop circulation take culinary change account argue change relate role ancient meal mean negotiate ethnic_identity specifically suggest many observed change relate rise early_christianity model use challenge long accepted view roman_economy late_roman rural demography topic play_important_role argue traditional_view