Fragile Biography: The Life Cycle of Ceramics and Refuse Disposal Patterns in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine (Babesch Supplementa) 9789042936904, 9789042936911, 9042936908

This book is the first comprehensive synthesis of the life cycle of ceramics and of refuse management in ancient Palesti

163 87 7MB

English Pages 203 [205] Year 2018

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
Introduction
Pottery Life Cycle and Refuse Disposal Patterns in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine
Pottery in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine
The Reuse of Transport and Storage Wares
The Reuse of Other Ceramic Classes
Pottery Repair
Pottery Recycling
Refuse Disposal Patterns: Pottery and Beyond
Maps and Lists of Sites Mentioned in the Text
Snapshots of Ceramics Life Cycle in Ottoman and Mandatory Palestine
List of Illustrations
Bibliography
Index

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Fragile Biography: The Life Cycle of Ceramics and Refuse Disposal Patterns in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine (Babesch Supplementa)
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FRAGILE BIOGRAPHY: THE LIFE CYCLE OF CERAMICS AND REFUSE DISPOSAL PATTERNS IN LATE ANTIQUE AND EARLY MEDIEVAL PALESTINE Itamar Taxel

PEETERS

FRAGILE BIOGRAPHY : THE LIFE CYCLE OF CERAMICS AND REFUSE DISPOSAL PATTERNS IN LATE ANTIQUE AND EARLY MEDIEVAL PALESTINE

‘How objects get handled, used and handed on is not just a mildly interesting question for me. It is my question’ Edmund de Waal, The Hare with the Amber Eyes. A Family’s Century of Art and Loss, New York, 2010, 16.

B A B E S C H Annual Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology Supplement 35 — 2018

BABESCH FOUNDATION Stichting Bulletin Antieke Beschaving

FRAGILE BIOGRAPHY: THE LIFE CYCLE OF CERAMICS AND REFUSE DISPOSAL PATTERNS IN LATE ANTIQUE AND EARLY MEDIEVAL PALESTINE

Itamar Taxel

PEETERS Leuven - Paris - Bristol, CT 2018

BABESCH Supplement Series edited by

G.J. van Wijngaarden

Photo on the cover: Two upper sections of bag-shaped jars reused as funnels from Yavneh-Yam and Mishmar David, and a casserole from Yavneh.

All volumes published in the BABESCH Supplements are subject to anonymous academic peer review.

© 2018 Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 153, B-3000 Leuven All rights reserved, including the right to translate or reproduce this book or any part of it in any form. ISBN 978-90-429-3690-4 eISBN 978-90-429-3691-1 D/2018/0602/106

CONTENTS Introduction 1. Pottery Life Cycle and Refuse Disposal Patterns in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine Theory and Practice in Context 1.1. Studying the Biography of Artefacts and Deposits 1.2. Pots and People: The Palestinian Perspective 2. Pottery in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine A Typo-Chronological Synopsis 2.1. Periodization &HUDPLF&ODVVLÀFDWLRQ 2.2.1. Table Wares 2.2.2. Cooking Wares 2.2.3. Utilitarian Wares 2.2.4. Transport and Storage Wares 2.2.5. Lamps and Lanterns 2.2.6. Architectural Ceramics 3. Pottery in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine Economic and Functional/Behavioral Aspects 3.1. How Much Was Pottery Worth? Monetary and Sentimental Values 3.1.1. The Literary Evidence 3.1.2. The Archaeological Evidence: Ownership Indications 3.1.3. The Archaeological Evidence: Unique, Damaged, New and Cached Vessels 3.2. Prime Use Characteristics 3.2.1. Where and What? The Contexts of (Prime) Use and Their Associated Ceramic Repertoires 3.2.1.1. Domestic Contexts 3.2.1.2. Commercial Contexts 3.2.1.3. Industrial/Artisanal and Agricultural Contexts 3.2.1.4. Religious Public Buildings 3.2.1.5. Secular Public Buildings 3.2.1.6. Tombs and Cemeteries 3.2.2. How? Pottery Prime Use Designations 3.2.2.1 Table Wares 3.2.2.2. Cooking Wares 3.2.2.3. Utilitarian Wares 3.2.2.4. Transport and Storage Wares 4. The Reuse of Transport and Storage Wares 4.1 Reuse as a Packaging Container 4.2. Reuse as a Storage Container 4.3. Reuse as a Water Drawing Vessel 4.4. Reuse as a Settling Vat/Sump 4.5. Reuse as a Pipe 4.6. Reuse as a Bellows 4.7. Reuse as an Architectural Element 4.8. Reuse as a Fish Nest 4.9. Reuse as an Oven/Hearth or Brazier 4.10. Reuse as a Basin or Trough 4.11. Reuse as a Stand or Prop 4.12. Reuse as an Obstruction/Regulation (?) Device 4.13. Reuse as a Dovecote 4.14 Reuse as a Strainer 4.15. Reuse as a Funnel

VIII

1 1 3 5 5 6 8 9 11 16 16 18 18 18 19 25 30 30 31 34 37 40 43 44 44 46 48 54 57 71 71 78 84 86 88 89 89 91 92 92 94 94 94 95 96

4.16 Reuse 4.17. Reuse 4.18. Reuse 4.19. Reuse 4.20 Reuse 4.21. Reuse 4.22. Reuse

as as as as as as as

a Libation Conduit a Burial Container a Grave Marker a Grinding, Polishing or Scooping Implement a Body Hygiene Implement a Stopper, Gaming Piece/Token, Spindle Whorl or Toy an Epigraphic Medium

96 97 99 99 100 100 103

5. The Reuse of Other Ceramic Classes 5.1. Reuse as a Storage Container 5.2. Reuse as a Water Drawing Vessel 5.3. Reuse as a Settling Vat/Sump 5.4. Reuse as a Pipe 5HXVHDVD)RXQGDWLRQRU7HUPLQDWLRQ2ͿHULQJ 5.6. Reuse as an Oven/Hearth 5.7. Reuse as a Bowl/Basin or Trough 5.8. Reuse as a Strainer/Funnel 5.9. Reuse as a Polishing Implement 5.10. Reuse as a Stopper or Gaming Piece/Token 5.11. Reuse as a Paving Tile 5.12. Reuse as a Baking Tray, Grinding Palette (?) or Lid/Stopper 5.13. Reuse as an Epigraphic Medium

107 107 109 109 110 111 111 111 112 112 113 114 114

6. Pottery Repair 6.1. Methods of Repair 6.2. What Was Repaired? 6.3. The Reasons for Repair 6.4. Reducing Maintenance

116 116 117 121 123

7. Pottery Recycling 7.1. Recycling as Fill in Foundations 7.2. Recycling as Consolidating Material in Mortar 7.3. Recycling as Reagent in Plaster 7.4. Recycling as Bedding for Plaster 7.5. Recycling as Surfacing Material in Pavements 7.6. Recycling as Mosaic Tesserae 7.7. Recycling as Wall Coating or Fill in Clay, Mudbrick and Rubblework Installations 7.8. Recycling as Bedding for Tesserae in a Glass-Mosaic Table 7.9. Recycling as Temper for Ceramics

125 125 125 127 127 128 128 129 131 131

8. Refuse Disposal Patterns: Pottery and Beyond 8.1. General Aspects of Refuse Disposal and Utilization 8.2. Typology of Refuse Disposal Contexts in Late Antique and Early Medieval Palestine ([WUDPXUDO2Ϳ6LWH'XPSV 8.2.1.1. Case Study 1: Apollonia 8.2.1.2. Case Study 2: Yavneh 8.2.2. Intramural Dumps 8.2.2.1 Case Study 3: Yavneh-Yam ([WUDPXUDO2Ϳ6LWH)HUWLOL]LQJ'HSRVLWV &DVH6WXG\7KH