How Things Make History
The Roman Empire and its terra sigillata Pottery
Published on 1. October 2025
184 pages
978-1-040-78698-7 (ISBN)
Description
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.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
File size
25,52 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-78698-7 (9781040786987)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
02/2016
Amsterdam University Press
€111.50
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Person
Astrid Van Oyen is Assistant Professor of Classical Archaeology at Cornell University. Her interests concern the archaeology and history of Roman Italy and the Western Provinces, with a focus on empire and imperialism, materiality, and socio-economics. She has written about post-colonialism, networks, Roman villas, and city-countryside relations. She is the PI of the Marzuolo Archaeological Project (MAP), investigating dynamics of rural innovation in Roman Italy.
Content
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 a history, APPENDIX 1. STAMP ASSEMBLAGES, REFERENCES, INDEX.
