• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage

Single-page Excel spreadsheet, containing a complete Iron Age pottery data set Historic England, Society of Antiquaries, London, British Museum

Single-page Excel spreadsheet, containing a complete Late Bronze Age pottery data set Historic England, Society of Antiquaries, London, British Museum

Pottery fragments are the most numerous finds on Neolithic sites throughout the Central Balkans. Chronological systems in Neolithic archaeology are based upon ceramic forms and ornamental techniques. Unfortunately, many other aspects of pottery have been neglected. Pottery ethnoarchaeology, along with experimental and interdisciplinary research, must be used as the main source of information about certain aspects of production and use of ceramic vessels, as well as in the reconstruction of social organisation, labor division and labor investment in ceramic production, vessel use-life, breakage and discard patterns, among others. A methodology of use-wear trace identification – abrasion, carbon deposition and surface attrition – on Early Neolithic pottery from the site of Blagotin was established according to the results of ethnoarchaeological research among traditional communities. Ethnoarchaeological evidence was also the main source of information in researching technological aspects of pottery production such as forming techniques and firing procedures, as well as the emergence of standardisation and craft specialisation in the production of Late Neolithic pottery from Vinča.

Much of what is known about Malta’s ancient material culture has come to light as a result of antiquarian research or early archaeological work – a time where little attention was paid to stratigraphic context. This situation has in part contributed to the problem of reliably sourcing and dating Maltese Roman-period pottery, particularly locally produced forms common on nearly all ancient Maltese sites. Pottery from Roman Malta presents a comprehensive study of Maltese pottery forms from key stratified deposits spanning the first century BC to mid-fourth century AD. Ceramic material from three Maltese sites was analysed and quantified in a bid to understand Maltese pottery production during the Roman period, and trace the type and volume of ceramic-borne goods that were circulating the central Mediterranean during the period. A short review of the islands’ recent literature on Roman pottery is discussed, followed by a detailed contextual summary of the archaeological contexts presented in this study. The work is supplemented by a detailed illustrated catalogue of all the forms identified within the assemblages, presenting the wide range of locally produced and imported pottery types typical of the Maltese Roman period. peer-reviewed

Single-page Excel spreadsheet, containing a complete data set on the Round House pottery Historic England, Society of Antiquaries, London, British Museum