Pots were once the basis on which most understandings of British prehistory were founded. In the middle decades of the twentieth century, ceramic studies were fundamental to tracking the origins, history and extent of cultural traditions throughout Britain and beyond. But over the course of the last 40 years, this once central role of pottery has significantly diminished, to the extent that today, we rarely see pottery as anything but a dating tool. This was not always the way, and though we might query the equations made between pots and people by previous generations, we have arguably lost sight of how to harness this material to other forms of social narrative. Despite having more pottery'than ever before, with few exceptions, we have reverted to asking a restricted range of questions of this material, and as a result, have yielded answers which seldom chime with the interests of those beyond a narrow specialist community. In short, pots rarely seem to matter anymore, and like other categories of artefact, are accorded far less significance when compared to the evidence of landscapes and settlement architectures. This thesis redresses some of these imbalances in the context of later prehistoric research. It brings pottery back into focus as a material that allows us make substantive statements about the past. Specifically, it tracks the character and regional development of Late Bronze Age (c. 1100-800 BC) and Early Iron Age (c. 800-350 BC) Post-Deverel Rimbury pottery in Ea'st Anglia, and establishes the social context of ceramic production and -consumption. In doing so, it draws together a vast body of published and unpublished material amassed in the last few decades, and tackles the issue of how ceramic traditions were implicated in the constitution of social identities.

The present thesis focuses on the examination of the names of potters on Gallo-Roman terra sigillata (AD 1st-3rd century). The names are discussed in relation to the bilingualism, the current trends in the studies of onomastics and the process of Romanisation in Gaul. From this perspective, the wider research context discusses first the way these names need to be viewed and examined. The examination of the names is based on their origin and when this is not clear, an etymology is suggested in order to determine the character of the name. Consequently, the names are classified according to their origin, period and area of attestation, and finally their morphology. The classification is explained for names which are problematic or whose classification needs justification and a commentary on these names is provided. The principles for this process are developed to cover the needs of this research and presented separately. A special focus is made on the use of Greek names, with regard to their use in the particular context. The binomial and trinomial stamps are examined in a separate chapter, in order to offer a closer look to the adaptation of the potters, as part of the indigenous population, to the Roman naming formulae. The names of this category are discussed firstly when they form groups of individuals with a same nomen. Secondly, the nomina and the cognomina used by the potters are discussed. The conclusions of this chapter also include the use or omission of the praenomina. Finally, frequent names and naming customs are discussed. This last chapter includes names obtained from numerals, from animal names, and some frequent formations and connotations.

No description available.

This research describes, analyses and evaluates the technical processes behind a series of original ceramics artworks,which take varying degrees of technical risks in the making process. The aesthetic evaluation of these artworks includes the ways in which the ceramic artworks might be perceived as successful or unsuccessful. The traditional Korean moon jar was adopted as the primary form to investigate taking risks in the making in addition to the employment of many traditional procedures and processes. Historically, these unusual yet now highly acclaimed ceramic treasures were underestimated, and were regarded in the history of Korean ceramics as failed artworks. This common perception significantly influenced this project to reinterpret and recontextualise the value of traditional Korean moon jars. The viewer is confronted with an artwork,which challenges the paradigm of traditional ceramic practice. This research explores the ways in which Korean moon jars can reveal elements of risk taking in the making process and describes the key characteristics of risk taking. Methodologies deployed include the creation of original ceramic artworks through an investigation and interpretation of the making process; a review and interpretation of historical and contemporary material including archives, databases, museums and galleries; and case studies of artists and critics through interviews, electronic correspondence and questionnaires. Conclusions drawn from the research include an aesthetic and critical interpretation of taking risks in the making of Korean moon jars. They contributeto the paucity of research in this area, and assert the need for a critical re-assessment of Korean moon jars in contemporary ceramics. The written thesis makes a vital contribution to the limited published material regarding Korean moon jars, in particular the making process combined with the concept and practical features of risk-taking in sculptural moon jar forms. In addition, this research provides the first complete theorisation of tacit knowledge and workmanship of risk,with regards to the Korean moon jar and demonstrates the employment of failure or discarded pieces that contribute to aesthetic theorisation, such as the sublime within Korean scholarly ceramics. Taking risks during the making process became a key conceptual feature of the investigation and inspired three new understandings of deploying and evaluating risk taking while working in the medium of ceramics, with emphasis on the moon jar form.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis is the first comprehensive study of Indian moulded terracotta sculpture made between the second century BC and first century AD. Over 3000 images dispersed in more than 50 international collections have been studied. They hail from archaeological sites that spread from the Northwest Frontier in Pakistan through the Indian Gangetic plain to Nepal and Bangladesh. While the stone imagery from sites like Bharhut, Sanchi and the Western Indian caves are reasonably well known, contemporary terracotta plaques have been marginalised by scholarship. Unlike their stone counterparts, the mass-produced terracotta plaques belong to a separate genre of cultic belief and patronage. Made of easily renewable and inexpensive clay, the use of these images was not precluded to the wealthier donors of contemporary stone sculpture, who were given mostly to patronising Buddhism or Jainism. Before any hypothesis could be made about the religious affiliation of the terracotta images, the first objective of this study was to collect the data, and categorise it empirically. In this process, a pattern of related similarities and differences emerged in the imagery. A stylistic study has also been conducted that compares the inter-regional relationships between the sculptures from five areas: the Northwest, the Indo-Gangetic Divide, Upper-Gangetic Valley, Middle-Gangetic Valley and Bengal. This study revealed a complex and shared iconography of images spread over the South Asian Subcontinent before the Common Era. However, identifying their iconography and nature of the cult(s) that used these images can only be speculated at this stage. A preliminary study has shown that the closest textual descriptions that mirror the iconography of these images lie embedded in the later myths of the major Indie divinities. It appears that the myths and magico-religious nature of pre-Kusan divinities were subsumed by the mythoiogies of the emerging 'great' gods like Shiva, Vishnu and Devi. These images form perhaps the first ciear iconographic programme of sculptures found in the Subcontinent. This leads us to assess what factors (religious, ritualistic, economic and artistic) might have influenced the sudden creation of this imagery in India. Finally, in so doing, this dissertation questions who would have used this imagery, and why. The thesis concludes that many Indian gods and goddesses, epic narratives and their heroes, often forgotten by the subsequent tradition, found their first visual reference in Early-Historic terracotta. It also highlights the important ritualistic and apotropaic function of early images. The vast majority of this material has never been published. Approximately 450 illustrations accompany the dissertation.

No description available.

No description available.

This practice-based research investigates the potential applications of digital manufacturing technologies in the design and production of hand-made tableware at the Leach Pottery. The methodology for the research establishes an approach grounded in my previous experience as a maker that is informed by an open, experimental, emergent, and responsive framework based on Naturalistic Inquiry. A critical contextual review describes the cultural heritage of Leach which, for the purposes of the research, is developed through the Leach Pottery as a significant site, the historical production of the iconic Leach Standard Ware and the contemporary production of Leach Tableware. This is followed by an examination of Potter’s Tools in the Leach production environment, and a review of makers’ digital ceramic practice. The contextual review is followed by an explication of ‘standards’ presented through visual lineages of Standard Ware and Leach Tableware to define ‘standard’ at a design (macro) level, followed by an examination of how ‘standard’ operates at a making (micro level) level. This chapter presents new knowledge in relation to defining the visual field of Leach Pottery tableware production and its standards of design. A chapter focussed on practice presents the outcomes and analysis of my engagement with digital manufacturing technologies which resulted in the development of new tools to support Leach Tableware production and the interrogation of Leach forms, in different mediums, which led to the creation of Digital-Analogue Leach forms. The practice culminated in the design and development of new 21st century Standard Ware: a range of 9 forms, called Echo of Leach, that were developed by myself using digital and analogue methods: the designs were realised by myself, the Leach Studio, and a further four makers. The outcomes of the research were presented in a three month exhibition at the Leach Pottery in 2013. The conclusions of the research draw on the key points raised in the analysis of the practice and relate these to the approaches to making pottery that are highlighted in the cultural heritage of Leach in the contextual review. These are also discussed in relation to ways in which these findings could be taken forward into development of knowledge about Standard Ware, especially in a broader studio pottery context.