How Things Make History : : The Roman Empire and its terra sigillata Pottery / / Astrid Oyen.

• Superior document: Amsterdam Archaeological Studies ; 23
• VerfasserIn: Oyen, Astrid,
• Place / Publishing House: Amsterdam : : Amsterdam University Press,, [2021]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Amsterdam Archaeological Studies ; 23
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (184 p.)

Bright red terra sigillata pots dating to the first three centuries CE can be found throughout the Western Roman provinces. The pots' widespread distribution and recognisability make them key evidence in the effort to reconstruct the Roman Empire's economy and society. Drawing on recent ideas in material culture, this book asks a radically new question: what was it about the pots themselves that allowed them to travel so widely and be integrated so quickly into a range of contexts and practices? To answer this question, Van Oyen offers a fresh analysis in which objects are no longer passive props, but rather they actively shape historical trajectories.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1 On avoiding retrospection -- 2 Bright red shiny pots: is there more to terra sigillata? -- 3 Practice before type: sigillata production at Lezoux (1st-2nd centuries AD) -- 4 Points of redefinition: distribution, firing lists, and kiln loads (1st century AD) -- 5 The question of stability: sigillata and 'Rhenish' wares between Lezoux and Trier (2nd-3rd centuries AD) -- 6 Before meaning: reproduction and consumption of terra sigillata and 'Rhenish' wares in Essex (2nd-3rd centuries AD) -- 7 Things in history/things as history -- Appendix 1. Stamp assemblages -- References -- Index