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H2020Individual fellowship2017–2019

TRACT · TRAvelling Ceramic Technologies as markers of human mobility in the Aegean

Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Duration
2017-10-01 → 2019-09-30
EU contribution
€164,653
Participants
1
Scheme
MSCA-IF-EF-ST

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Results in brief

TRAvelling Ceramic Technologies as markers of human mobility in the Aegean

TRACT was developed in the context of increased interest in human mobility seen across many disciplines dealing with both past as well as more recent and contemporary movements of people. Archaeology, now equipped with powerful techniques such as ancient DNA or strontium isotopes’ analyses is able to tackle these issues with unprecedented precision and degree of certainty when dealing with skeletal material, which, however, is not always available or sufficiently well preserved as opposed to abundant (at least in the Mediterranean) and durable pottery. Against this backdrop, TRACT’s main objective was twofold. On the one hand, it was designed to carry out a detailed and interdisciplinary study of a particular case study of past human mobility, focused on the potters from the island of Aegina around 1200 BC. This study rested on the main premise that the technology involved in craft production has the potential to demonstrate mobility in a manner much more unequivocal than the discussion of other aspects of material culture. On the other hand, the objective was also to make this particular case study relevant for the general, inter-disciplinary interest in human mobility through the study of motivations, scale and impact of past mobility combined with investigation of potters’ movements in modern times in the same landscapes. As a result of research carried out within TRACT it was possible to confirm mobility of potters trained in a tradition characteristic for the island of Aegina and, by putting it in a broader socio-political context, explore aspects of this phenomenon that are difficult to assess using archaeological material, like reasons behind the movement and its various scales. Furthermore, in the specific historical context of the period around 1200 BC, craftsmen mobility provided a very good proxy for investigating the general movement of people

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The main aim of TRACT is to demonstrate that the informed and interdisciplinary study of ancient pottery can shed new light on past human mobility. Based on the premise that the spread of technology involved in pottery making requires the physical movement of people, the project will adopt an inter-disciplinary methodology designed to investigate instances of technological transfer and hence mobility of potters. The methodology comprises macroscopic study of the vessel-forming methods in combination with petrographic and chemical analysis of pottery and raw material samples. An important addition is the study of modern instances of potters’ mobility in the Aegean. Altogether, this represents a novel approach, which will be employed to a specific study focused on potters from the island of Aegina during the Late Bronze Age. TRACT will investigate the spread of a particular pottery tradition developed on the island of Aegina along the Euboean Gulf, an important corridor that facilitated movement of goods and people. Furthermore, the chosen case study will aim to shed light on the underpinnings of such movement, its duration, scale, as well as interaction of potters with new landscapes and receiving communities. Therefore, TRACT will contribute to the current debate on mobility by presenting thoroughly researched case study of craftsmen mobility, and elaborate a coherent methodology that can be universally applied. The choice of the Fitch Laboratory of the British School at Athens as a hosting institution will not only enable a high-level training through research but also, due to the supervisor’s interest in mobility of potters’ mobility and previous research on pottery production on the island of Aegina, it constitutes a perfect match that will provide a substantial boost to career opportunities for the experienced researcher and strengthen the position of the Laboratory as a centre of excellence for the study of craftspeople mobility.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

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Data: CORDIS, © European Union