How Things Make History the roman empire and its terra sigillata pottery Archaeological Studies Astrid Van Oyen Van Astrid Amsterdam University Press 23 Amsterdam Amsterdam How Things Make History 23 Other titles in the AAS series: 1. N. Roymans (ed.): From the Sword to the Plough. Three Studies on 13. T. Derks / N. Roymans (eds): Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity. The the Earliest Romanisation of Northern Gaul role of power and tradition Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/record/19675 Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/301890 2. T. Derks: Gods, Temples and Ritual Practices. The Transformation of 14. T. D. Stek: Cult places and cultural change in Republican Italy. Religious Ideas and Values in Roman Gaul A contextual approach to religious aspects of rural society after the Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172370 Roman conquest ISBN 978 90 8964 177 9 3. A. Verhoeven: Middeleeuws gebruiksaardewerk in Nederland (8e – 13e eeuw) 15. P. A.J. Attema / G.-J. L.M. Burgers / P. M. van Leusen: Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172373 Regional Pathways to Complexity. Settlement and land-use dynamics in early italy from the bronze age to the republican period 4. F. Theuws / N. Roymans (eds): Land and Ancestors. Cultural ISBN 978 90 8964 276 9 Dynamics in the Urnfield Period and the Middle Ages in the Southern Netherlands 16. E.M. Moormann: Divine Interiors. Mural paintings in Greek and Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172372 Roman sanctuaries ISBN 978 90 8964 261 5 5. J. Bazelmans: By Weapons made Worthy. Lords, Retainers and their Relationship in Beowulf 17. N. Roymans / T. Derks (eds): Villa Landscapes in the Roman Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172337 North. Economy, Culture and Lifestyles ISBN 978 90 8964 348 3 6. R. Corbey / W. Roebroeks (eds): Studying Human Origins. Disci- plinary History and Epistemology 18. N. Roymans / G. Creemers / S. Scheers: Late Iron Age Gold Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172272 Hoards from the Low Countries and the Caesarian Conquest of Northern Gaul 7. M. Diepeveen-Jansen: People, Ideas and Goods. New Perspectives on ISBN 978 90 8964 349 0 ‘Celtic barbarians’ in Western and Central Europe (500-250 BC) Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172273 19. D. S. Habermehl: Settling in a Changing World. Villa development in the northern provinces of the Roman Empire. 8. G. J. van Wijngaarden: Use and Appreciation of Mycenean Pottery in ISBN 978 90 8964 506 7 the Levant, Cyprus and Italy (ca. 1600-1200 BC). The Significance of Context 20. D. G. Yntema: The Archaeology of South-East Italy in the first Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172274 millennium BC. Greek and native societies of Apulia and Lucania between the 10th and the 1st century BC 9. F.A. Gerritsen: Local Identities. Landscape and community in the late ISBN 978 90 8964 579 1 prehistoric Meuse-Demer-Scheldt region Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172820 21. Manuel Fernández-Gtz: Identity and Power. The Transformation of Iron Age Societies in Northeast Gaul 10. N. Roymans: Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power. The Batavians in ISBN 978 90 8964 597 5 the Early Roman Empire Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/172930 22. N. Roymans / T. Derks and H. Hiddink (eds): The Roman Villa of Hoogeloon and the Archaeology of the Periphery 11. J.A.W. Nicolay: Armed Batavians. Use and significance of weaponry ISBN 978 90 8964 836 5 and horse gear from non-military contexts in the Rhine delta (50 BC to AD 450) Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/nl/record/397232 12. M. Groot: Animals in ritual and economy in a Roman frontier com- munity. Excavations in Tiel-Passewaaij Open Access edition: http://dare.uva.nl/aup/en/record/301888 How Things Make History the roman empire and its terra sigillata pottery a strid v an o yen a msterdam u niversity p ress This book meets the requirements of ISO 9706: 1994, Information and documentation – Paper for documents – Requirements for permanence. Cover illustrations: Above: Terra sigillata bowl (form Drag. 37) with moulded decoration and intra-decorative stamp by Paternus (Lezoux, second half 2nd century AD). Photo by Richard Delage. Below: Italian terra sigillata (Marzuolo, AD 50-70). Photo by Emanuele Vaccaro © Roman Peasant Project. Cover design: Kok Korpershoek, Amsterdam Lay-out: Bert Brouwenstijn, Almere ISBN 978 94 6298 054 9 e-ISBN 978 90 4852 993 3 NUR 682 © A. Van Oyen / Amsterdam University Press B.V., Amsterdam All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the editors of this book. contents preface ix 1 on avoiding retrospection 1 1.1 Many shades of material agency 1 1.2 Preliminary thoughts on terra sigillata and quarks 3 1.3 Writing non-retrospective histories 7 2 bright red shiny pots: is there more to terra sigillata? 11 2.1 A survival guide to terra sigillata (and to this book) 11 2.2 Terra sigillata as it is known through current practices of study 16 2.2.1 A standard definition of terra sigillata 16 2.1.2 Reinserting practices in definitions 17 2.3 Terra sigillata as it was known in the history of its scholarship 20 2.3.1 Sigillata as an aesthetic judgement (late 18th-19th centuries) 21 2.3.2 Sigillata as correlated traits (late 19th–early 20th centuries) 24 2.3.3 Sigillata as a dating tool (20th century) 26 2.3.4 Sigillata as the product of workshops (mid 20th century) 28 2.3.5 Sigillata has not always been the same thing! 30 2.4 Whither sigillata? 31 3 practice before type: sigillata production at lezoux ( 1st– 2nd centuries ad) 33 3.1 Prequel: black-gloss wares and pre-sigillata 33 3.2 Revisiting the starting point 35 3.3 Micaceous lezoux ware or mode A sigillata? 36 3.3.1 Situating Lezoux 37 3.3.2 Ceramic production predating the Roman period 38 3.3.3 Workshops 39 3.3.4 Technological choices 39 3.3.5 Distribution 42 3.3.6 An anchored knowledge system 43 3.4 Sigillata production at Lezoux 44 3.4.1 Differences in practice 44 3.4.2 Experimentation 47 3.4.3 Standardisation and competition 50 3.4.4 Distribution 51 3.4.5 Creation and consequences of a ‘category’ 54 3.5 No more ready-made types 57 4 points of redefinition: distribution, firing lists, and kiln loads ( 1st century ad) 59 4.1 Trajectories and redefinition in economic narratives 59 4.2 Firing lists: pinning down a package of traits 62 4.2.1 State of research 62 4.2.2 Negotiating definitions and roles 64 4.2.3 Pprescribing parameters 65 4.2.4 Distributing agency 67 4.2.5 A patchwork of practices 69 4.2.6 From category to commodity 70 4.3 Sigillata on the move: changing parameters and the kiln load model 70 4.3.1 Intermezzo: sigillata production organisation 71 4.3.2 Port-la-Nautique: regular turnover 72 4.3.3 Cala Culip iv: recent replenishment 75 4.3.4 The Colchester Shops: repercussions for dating 81 4.3.5 The Pompeii crate: norm or anomaly? 86 4.3.6 Redefinition and economic narratives 89 4.4 A category’s trajectory of exchange 91 5 the question of stability: sigillata and ‘ rhenish’ wares between lezoux and trier ( 2nd-3rd centuries ad) 93 5.1 Boundary work: sigillata and ‘Rhenish’ wares at Lezoux 94 5.1.1 Production of fine wares at Lezoux, mid 2nd century 94 5.1.2 Technological choices 95 5.1.3 Boundaries and ‘Othering’ 98 5.2 Rooted things: from Lezoux to Trier 99 5.2.1 Situating Trier 99 5.2.2 Workshops 100 5.2.3 Early Trier sigillata: on its own terms 101 5.2.4 Transposition of a ‘category’ and its ‘Other’ 102 5.2.5 Third century sigillata: a ‘category’ dissolved 103 5.2.6 Third century ‘Rhenish’ wares: varying technological choices 104 5.2.7 ‘Rooted’ things 107 5.2.8 Distribution 109 5.2.9 Relations and roots 111 5.3 Thing-thing relations and historical change 112 6 before meaning: reproduction and consumption of terra sigillata and ‘ rhenish’ wares in essex ( 2nd– 3rd centuries ad) 115 6.1 Conditions for (re)production 115 6.1.1 (Re)producing a category 115 6.1.2 (Re)producing a skilled production process 117 6.2 Niches in consumption 120 6.2.1 An Essex case study 120 6.2.2 ‘Rhenish’ wares: creating ties 123 6.2.3 Sigillata: the joker 126 6.3 The making of an archaeological pattern 128 7 things in history/things as history 131 appendix 1. stamp assemblages 137 references 145 index 167 vii preface The material in this study was assembled during my PhD research at the University of Cambridge, which I completed in 2013. I entered the PhD with a clear sense that Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and the Science and Technology Studies (STS) to which it belonged, held the key to some central conceptual problems in Roman archaeology and, more broadly, archaeological theory.