Archaeology Lecture with Bice Peruzzi

Bice Peruzzi (Rutgers University) will speak on "Failure and Experimentation at the Potters Quarter: Evidence of 6th century pottery production at Corinth". Lunch will be at 12, the lecture at 12:30.

Lecture Abstract:
Material from the Potters’ Quarter at Corinth reveals that experimentation was a regular part of the Middle Corinthian pottery industry (6th century BCE), despite the fairly uniform appearance of the finished pots famous for their large-scale distribution throughout the Archaic Mediterranean. However, to date, analyses of ceramic finds from the Potters’ Quarter have focused mainly on their formal and stylistic classification, leaving this rich source of information about ancient pottery manufacture relatively untapped. Our ongoing project examines and documents the Potters’ Quarter’s try-pieces ceramic wasters, misfires, and other vestiges of the production. Ceramic debris from the Potters’ Quarter offers glimpses into workshop procedures and the decisions potters made in response to the vicissitudes of their craft and conditions at each step, including preparing raw materials, potting, decoration, kiln construction, and firing.