Merovingian Ceramic and Glass in the Early Towns of the Middle Meuse Valley

Abstract

This article is about the production and distribution of ceramic and glass vessels from the Meuse region between Namur and Maastricht in the Merovingian period. It allows us to determine the place of craft production and its agents in the economy of that time as well as their part in the evolution of the early towns of this geographic area. The use of archaeometric analyses was particularly suitable to identify the materials used, to throw light on their provenance, to retrace exchange and to define the role of the towns in the production and consumption processes.