Pots in pieces. Production, trade and consumption of medieval ceramics in the County of Flanders.

Begin - Einde 
2024 - 2030 (lopend)
Type 
Vakgroep(en) 
Vakgroep Archeologie
Vakgroep Geschiedenis
Onderzoeksgebied 
Tijdsperiode 
Land/Regio 
Taal 
Trefwoorden 
Ceramics
Medieval Ceramics

Tabgroup

Abstract

Cities such as Paris, Bruges, Ghent and Florence experienced remarkable growth from the High Middle Ages onwards. Recent scholarship indicates that this economic complexity was primarily driven by local and regional production and exchange rather than long distance trade. For medieval Flanders, regional synthesising reference studies on pottery are almost entirely absent, apart from a few notable exceptions, while fully developed analyses of medieval pottery contexts are rare and the treatment of socio economic questions rarer still. Yet the potential is considerable: numerous local and regional production centres in Bruges, Ghent and their hinterland have been excavated in recent decades. This project addresses this regional knowledge gap and untapped potential by investigating the origins and development of pottery supply and consumption in the area between Ghent and Bruges (ninth to fourteenth centuries) as a proxy for their economic and socio geographical transformation, and to advance understanding of the production of these bulk goods and their role in driving the commercial revolution in the County of Flanders. The study focuses on three pillars: (1) production, organisation, upscaling and the role of landowners; (2) trade, markets and their evolution; and (3) consumption, the social diffusion of new forms and categories. This research combines quantitative, morphotypological, petrographic and geochemical analysis alongside historical research.

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