Handmade Pottery and Social Change: The View from Late Roman Cyprus

Abstract

Technological and stylistic change in pottery-making reflects myriad material, social and economic conditions. The adoption of wheel-based pottery techniques in the east Mediterranean generally is seen to reflect rising craft specialization and social complexity in the Middle and Late Bronze Age. There is less agreement about the subsequent continuity or re-emergence of handmade pottery, especially during times of dramatic cultural change. Recent discussions of Handmade Burnished Ware in south Greece in the LBA has explored diffusionist and indigenous explanations to account for this phenomenon. A small group of handmade wares in Cyprus in the seventh century AD offers a broadly analogous situation that finds parallels throughout the Late Roman empire. Comparison of these two handmade pottery traditions emphasizes the importance of both social and economic factors underlying their appearance.