Roman Pottery Production in Civitas Tungrorum, Central Belgium, during the 1st-3rd Centuries AD (original) (raw)
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Roman Pottery Production in Civitas Tungrorum, Belgium: Towards an Integrated Compositional Approach
Den Töpfern auf der Spur-Orte der Keramikherstellung im Licht der neuesten Forschung. Keramikforschung, 46th International Symposium on Pottery, Mayen, 2013, , 2015
Roman Central Belgium (known as Civitas Tungrorum) was an important region for pottery production between the 1st and 3rd century AD. Well-preserved remains of workshops have been discovered at rural settlements, including Tienen, Vervoz, Braives, Liberchies, Rumst, Kontich and Grobbendonk. These provide important evidence for the nature and organisation of Roman pottery production in this northern district of the Roman Empire. This study focuses on the kiln sites of five small towns located in different cultural and geological areas of the Civitas. The sites at Rumst, Kontich and Grobbendonk are located in the northern Campine region, where one or two kilns were found, whereas the sites of Tienen and Vervoz in the central and Condroz regions respectively have structural evidence for more intensive and longer practice of the craft.
Study Group for Roman Pottery Newsletter 59, 8-10, 2015
In my PhD thesis, I explored the potential of ceramics as a source for the social, economic and cultural history of the mid 1st to the 3rd century AD central region of Belgium (known as the Civitas Tungrorum). The core of the thesis comprised the characterisation of regional pottery industries in this northern region, for which an integrated compositional approach has been used, comprising thin section petrography and geochemistry. The pottery offered high potential for understanding social and economic dynamics in the period given its wide distributions and good survival, added to the instructive technological information encoded in its fabrics and forms. The aim was to map the ceramic technological variability during this period, and to examine possible explanations for observed changes. By placing ceramic compositional groups in their landscape, I aimed to provide a firm basis with which to interpret aspects of ancient ceramic production within the Civitas Tungrorum.
Aspects of Roman pottery production at the workshops of Kontich, Tienen, Rumst, Grobbendonk and Clavier-Vervoz in the Civitas Tungrorum of central Belgium are explored. A total of 150 wasters from five sites were studied macroscopically, as well as via a combination of thin-section petrography, geochemistry and scanning electron microscopy, in order to gain insights into ceramic technology and aspects of the organization of production. Particular emphasis was given to the individual technological sequences and shared strategies of raw material selection, paste preparation and firing employed at the five adjacent sites. The integration of petrographic and geochemical data permitted the establishment of compositional reference groups for the Roman kiln sites of Civitas Tungrorum, which can be used to track their products within the surrounding landscape.
An Integrated Approach to the Study of Roman Pottery Production at the site of Vervoz, Belgium
Journal of Roman Pottery Studies, 2015
"Excavations at the site of Vervoz, in the Meuse region of Belgium between 1962-72, revealed important evidence for pottery manufacture during the Roman era, consisting of fifteen pottery kilns, production debris and pottery, dated to between the mid 1st to the end of the 2nd century AD. Beyond the classification of pottery into broad shape categories and hand-specimen fabric types, however, little is known of how these types were integrated in local manufacturing traditions. By using a detailed compositional approach, combining typo-morphological study with thin section ceramic analysis, aspects of the raw materials and manufacturing techniques of this pottery are investigated in detail for the first time. The results indicate both meaningful discontinuities and threads of consistency in the choice of raw materials and production technology of Roman ceramics at the site over a period of 150 years. These technological practices are likely to reflect the social organisation of the Roman potting groups. "
From Clay to Container. Roman pottery production at the Beukenbergweg, Tongeren (Belgium)
2016
The artisans who set up their workshop in the northeastern part of the civitas capital, before the city walls and the aquaduct were built there, are the first generation known of Gallo-Roman potters in Tongeren. This family activity begins after the Batavian revolt in AD 69/70 and lasts only for one or two decades. The clays, tested with the technic of loops, show that the raw material were tempered with sand. It is very likely that the raw clay used by the potters is coming from the outcrops of the Henis Member (Borgloon Formation). To avoid evil spells the potters have resorted to a lamp with an apotropaic symbol. The production is varied, with the joint manufacturing of fine dishes, domestic and culinary ceramics.
Journal of Archaeological Science Reports, 2021
Aspects of 1st to 3rd centuries CE Roman production technology and knowledge transfer in northern France and central Belgium (known as Civitas Nerviorum) were studied. To this aim, 43 pottery waste fragments from six workshops at Bavay, Pont-sur-Sambre, Blicquy, Cambrai, Les Rues-des-Vignes and Sains-du-Nord were studied macroscopically and analysed in thin section petrography and chemistry with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. This permitted to reconstruct the production technologies employed at the six workshops, and to infer inter-and intra-site knowledge transfer. More specifically, potters at Bavay transferred their knowledge to craftsmen at Pont-sur-Sambre. The epigraphic evidence on the discarded pottery further suggests that they passed on their technological knowledge through kinship. Craftsmen at Cambrai and Les Rues-des-Vignes also appear to have shared aspects of their technological knowledge. The reconstructed technologies were then used to tentatively indicate the production location of three conspicuous types of pottery, which circulated widely within and beyond the study region but were hitherto not known from production waste contexts. To this aim, seven samples from settlement, burial and sanctuary sites at Famars, Blicquy and Sains-du-Nord were selected and analysed in thin section petrography and chemistry with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.
Roman Ceramic Production and Consumption in Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
Symposium Onderzoek Jonge Archeologen, p. 37-38, 2008
The production and consumption of Roman ceramics in the Vlaams-Brabant region of Belgium is investigated in detail by the compositional analysis of kiln wasters from the important site at Tienen, the Mithras temple at Tienen, and the nearby villa at Hoegaarden. Petrographic analysis of 88 samples has shown that the choice of raw materials and the production technology of the Roman pottery produced at Tienen changed over time. A total of eight discrete fabric compositions were identified within the Roman ceramic samples, relating to the raw materials and the technology used to produce ceramics. As for the consumption of the Roman pottery from the site at Tienen, the conclusion is that the two consumption sites effectively consumed the local ware.