Archaeology of production: methods and experience - AKA500127

• Title: Archaeology of production: methods and experience
• Guaranteed by: Institute for Classical Archeology (21-UKAR)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2022
• Semester: summer
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 5
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:1/1, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unknown (unknown)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: yes / 15
• Key competences: 4EU+ Flagship 2
• State of the course: not taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: prof. PhDr. Peter Pavúk, Ph.D.

Annotation

Teachers: Elena Paralovo - Maťej Kmošek

CHANGE! The class will take place every week in Mondays from 9:10 to 10:45!!!

The course will deal with the main issues regarding the ancient technologies by focussing on pottery production and metallurgy, approached from archaeological and archaeometrical point of view. The course aims at understanding of production chain and recognizing and correctly analysing the evidence left from production activities and their evidential value for socio-cultural research of ancient societies. The course is meant to be path that leads from the methodological base to the discussion of important cases studies, mainly focusing on Iron Age sites as Marzabotto and Villa del Foro in Italy and Němčice nad Hanou in the Czech Republic. Students will be first brought to the topic by series of lectures combined with several case studies. On these will follow reading of relevant articles and book chapters combined with discussions in classes. At the end of the semester, students will get the opportunity to be a part of an experimental workshop where they will have the possibility to try different technologies of pottery and metal production.

The course will be hybrid - taught in person as well as streamed through MS Teams. The in person classes will take place in Hyb4 - Building D, 3rd floor, Room 302 (Street Hybernská 4, cca 5 minutes walk from Celetná 20). Link for remote and quarantine students: https://1url.cz/IK9QD<br>

The final workshop will be hybrid as well, but its attendance wont be obligatory for the remote students.

Last update: Kmošek Matěj, Mgr., DiS. (09.02.2022)

Literature

C. Renfrew, P. Bahn: Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice. Thames and Hudson 2012 (cap. 2, 8, 9)

M. Vidale, J.M. Kenoyer, K.K. Bhan, A discussion of the concept of "chaine opératoire" in the study of stratified societies: evidence from ethnoarchaeology and archaeology, in Ethnoarchéologie. Justification, problèmes, limites, XII Rencontres lnternationales d'Archéologie et d'Histoire d'Amibes, Juan-les-Pins 1992, pp. 181-194.

T. Mannoni, The Transmission of Craft Techniques according to the Principles of Material Culture: Continuity and Rupture, in L. Lavan, E. Zanini, A. Sarantis, Technology in Transition A.D. 300-650, Leiden - Boston 2007, pp. 12-19.

A. Brysbaert, Cross­Craft and Cross­Cultural Interactions during the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean Late Bronze Age, in: S. Antoniadou, A. Pace (Hrsg.), Mediterranean Crossroads, Athens 2007, pp. 325-359.

V. Roux, C. Jeffra, The Spreading of the Potter’s Wheel in the Ancient Mediterranean. A Social Context-Dependent Phenomenon, in W. Gauss, G. Klebinder-Gauss, C. von Rüden (eds.), The Transmission of Technical Knowledge in the Production of Ancient Mediterranean Pottery (Proceedings of the International Conference, Athens 2012), Wien 2015, pp. 165-182.

E. Giannichedda, Metal Production in Late Antiquity: From Continuity of Knowledge to Changes in Consumption, in L. Lavan, E. Zanini, A. Sarantis, Technology in Transition A.D. 300-650, Leiden - Boston 2007, pp. 187-210.

Last update: Tušlová Petra, Mgr., Ph.D. (29.11.2021)

Syllabus

21. 2. - 1^st lesson: Introduction to production archaeology (Elena Paralovo and Matěj Kmošek)

What is archaeology of production and why should we study it?
Types of production of ancient societies
Criticism in recognizing areas and traces of production
Experimental and analytical methods to reconstruct the past

28. 2. - 2^nd lesson: Metallurgy 1 (Matěj Kmošek)

From raw materials to finished artefacts
Techniques of smelting and metalworking (hammering, casting, decoration)
Types of production waste and their evidential value

7. 3. - 3^rd lesson: Metallurgy 2 (Matěj Kmošek)

21. 3. - 4^th lesson: Pottery Production 1 (Elena Paralovo)

From raw materials to vessels
Modelling
Baking the pottery: firing structures; kilns and fuels
Final products

28. 3. - 5^th lesson: Pottery Production 2 (Elena Paralovo)

4. 4. - 6^th lesson: Seminar for students about metallurgy 1 (Matěj Kmošek)

11. 4. - 7^th lesson: Seminar for students about metallurgy 2 (Matěj Kmošek)

18. 4. - 8^th lesson: Seminar for students about pottery production 1 (Elena Paralovo)

25. 4. – 9^th lesson: Seminar for students about pottery production 2 (Elena Paralovo)

2. 5. – 10^th lesson: Case studies 1 (Matěj Kmošek and Elena Paralovo)

Marzabotto, IT (pottery and metallurgy)

9. 5. - 11^th lesson: Case studies 2 (Elena Paralovo)

Villa del Foro, IT (pottery)

16. 5. - 12^th lesson: Case studies 3 (Matěj Kmošek)

Němčice nad Hanou, CZ (metallurgy)

Summer 2022 - 13^th lesson: Experiential workshop (Elena Paralovo and Matěj Kmošek)

Acquired information will be applied during experiential workshop. Students will be able to experience the materials, the tools and production phases to see how they transform into a final object. The workshop will be outdoor - the place will be specified. It will be partially streamed for remote students. 

Link for the lecture: https://1url.cz/IK9QD

Last update: Kmošek Matěj, Mgr., DiS. (09.02.2022)