Seminar: Ancient Technologies in Historical Times

Archaeologists, perhaps more than any other discipline that studies the human past, are interested in the purpose and operation of technologies. Technologies reflect both daily life and the income sources of ancient individuals, settlements, and regions. Installations (e.g. winepresses), end products or artefacts, and other remains (e.g. pottery waste) enable the reconstruction of production activities, which play part in the economic texture of places. In addition to the physical evidence from excavations, scholars compare installations and related activities to the ones used and fashioned by modern societies (‘ethno-archaeology’), to devices in semi-contemporary art (e.g. Roman mosaics, Ottoman miniature paintings), or to facilities described in texts. Other studies test these theories physically on similar devices (‘experimental archaeology’). In this course, we will discuss different technologies which can be found in excavation, mostly from historical periods onward. We will get to know their purpose and operation process. The technologies include water facilities, kilns, food processing technologies (beer, wine, oil), glaze techniques, glass production, alloys, pigments, and ink.