Technical and Social Considerations of Tools from Roman-period Ceramic Workshops at Sagalassos (Southwest Turkey)

Abstract

Archaeology has maintained a long-standing interest in ‘the tool’. In light of recent theoretical approaches to tools and technology, this paper presents the results of material analysis on a corpus of artifacts used in red-slipped ceramic production from Roman-period Sagalassos in southwest Turkey. Conceptual themes concern technological choices and the process by which tools were selected and appropriated for use in ceramic production. The tools demonstrate a variety of activity patterns—from reuse and adaptation to design and production. Objects were accordingly employed in complex and creative ways to meet the technical requirements of the artisan. Such needs in some instances also seem to reflect the role of the individual artisan within the organization of the workshop, whereby individuals demarcated their own toolsets within a larger production setting. Patterns of adaptation also highlight a need for interpretive flexibility when assigning functionality and social meaning to material culture. Such processes of selection appear to have been socially situated within the broader urban, suburban, and rural material worlds of Sagalassos.