Technology in crisis

About this book

This volume comprises the proceedings of a workshop with the same title which took place in February 2016 at UCLouvain (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium). It was organised within the framework of the ARC13/18-049 (concerted research action) "A World in Crisis?". This workshop questioned the reliability of pottery as crisis indicator within the archaeological data set. More particularly, following the perspective of archaeological and anthropological research that assesses pottery technology as a social product, there is an interest in addressing the social and cultural aspects of technological change in pottery production in the specific context of crisis and period of trouble. The main goal of our examination was to detect whether and how technological choices or changes observed in the archaeological ceramic record may reflect periods of transition, disruption, crisis or change pertaining to social, political, economic and environmental conditions. We proposed to address these questions by bringing together experts in charge of the study of pottery at different Bronze Age Mediterranean sites in order to discuss, confront and contextualise their respective assemblages and associated contexts.