Roman Pottery

This is a revised and supplemented edition of a dissertation, defended in 2015 at the Department of Archaeology of the Historical Faculty in Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”.

The two-chambered updraught kiln is the most widespread and identifiable variant among the ceramic firing installations throughout the Mediterranean in Antiquity. Its popularity owes to its fine technical properties, as well as the long-established traditions in the manufacture of clay-made artefacts.
The present dissertation explores the development and distribution of the two-chambered ceramic kilns in the territory of modern Bulgaria during the 1st – 6th century. For that purpose, published and unpublished data for ceramic kilns is studied, from the time of their appearance in Thrace in the course of the Late Iron Age until the end of Late Antiquity. The catalogue comprises detailed information for 289 kilns dated to the Roman and Late Antique periods. The acquired data base provides ground for the identification of the construction techniques and materials used in the erection of these structures, and to distinguish those of the former which appeared in today’s Bulgarian lands after the Roman conquest. The developed typology for the two-chambered kilns under discussion is based on the floor plan of the combustion chamber and the type of support for the perforated floor. The last chapter of the dissertation is dedicated to the archaeologically attested production centres and workshops from the 1st – 6th century and includes an attempt for the clarification of the chronological limits of their operation, together with a proposition for a periodisation scheme of ceramic production in the considered time period.
Between the second half of the 1st and the beginning of the 7th century the two-chambered kilns were the most frequently used ceramic firing structures in today’s Bulgarian territory. The number of studied kilns from this chronological period is significantly larger in comparison to those from the previous and the next one – respectively the Late Iron Age and the Middle Ages. This fact could be explained with the considerable demand for fine and coarse wheel-made pottery during the Roman and the Late Antique periods, together with the large-scale urbanisation and fortification activities carried out in that time, which required a great amount of ceramic building material. The two-chambered updraught kilns were the optimal – and sometimes the only – variant for the firing of both types of goods.
The influences on the development and organisation of ceramic production in the 1st – 6th century owed to the infiltration of new population, the urbanisation projects carried out by central authorities, and, in general, to the incorporation of this craft in the Empire’s economy. Being intrinsic part of it, the manufacture of ceramic goods also experienced the negative effects of the multiple military conflicts in the studied time period, some of which may serve as chronological limits for certain phases of its development.

Ninina Cuomo di Caprio

    Series: Studia Archaeologica, 144
    Format: 17 x 24 cm
    Binding: Hardcover with dustjacket
    Pages and Illustrations: 720, 200 b/w ill
    Publication Year: 2007
PDF ISBN 9788891317490
ISBN: 978-88-8265-397-2
A circa vent'anni dalla pubblicazione, il manuale ormai classico di Ninina Cuomo di Caprio viene riproposto per rispondere a precise esigenze di studio nel campo della ricerca archeologica e di formazione nell'ambito universitario. Il testo è stato completamente ripensato e riscritto, valorizzando le qualità che lo hanno imposto nel settore: la chiarezza, la completezza, l'attenzione culturale e storica alla tecnologia della ceramica. Nel ripercorrere il cammino seguito da un manufatto fittile dalla modellazione in argilla alla cottura nella fornace a combustibile solido naturale, l'attenzione è rivolta non soltanto agli aspetti tecnici ma anche alla piena consapevolezza circa le molte facce della produzione ceramica. La trattazione è incentrata sul mondo antico ma non solo classico: si aprono sviluppi riguardanti sia la preistoria sia il mondo medievale. Tutto questo rende il volume uno strumento di lavoro ancora più prezioso. La seconda parte del manuale è dedicata alle analisi di laboratorio che possono essere utili per una migliore comprensione della ricerca archeologica ed è completata da un'appendice sulle fonti letterarie antiche.

This is a published doctoral thesis in Turkish language at the Dokuz Eylül University, submitted by Gülseren Kan Şahin in 2015. In this dissertation pottery finds from Hadrianopolis and its chora in southwestern Paphlagonia (northwestern central Turkey) are presented in detail, which were collected between the years 2005 and 2008. A version of this thesis in English language is already published in 2016 as a part of BAR International Series (no. 2786) and in Turkish language in 2019 as a part of publication series of Turkish Historical Society.
Paphlagonia was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, bordered by Bithynia to the west, Pontus to the east and Galatia to the south.  Today, Hadrianopolis and its chora lie in the region around Eskipazar in the Turkish province of Karabük. Between 2005 and 2008 an archaeological team from the Dokuz Eylül University in Izmir carried out archaeological field surveys, excavations and restorations in Hadrianopolis and its close surroundings. During these four field campaigns, 1550 sherds ranging between the Pre-Iron Age (IInd mill. BC.) and the Middle Byzantine period (late 11th/early 12th cent. AD.) were collected, most of which consisted of Late Roman-Early Byzantine (late 5th-mid 8th cent. AD.) coarse ware. In this study 30 main pottery groups were constituted, based on their chronology, function and fabric. The book contains a detailed description of each find deposit, including the typologies and fabrics of wares and a comprehensive catalogue with drawings, as well as photos, of each sherd. It is, thus, the first extensive pottery report of the Turkish Black Sea area, offering a continual picture of all the wares and chronologies available, including their chronologies.

Perhaps more than any other ceramic container, lamps have the greatest potential to bear very rich iconographic depictions. The central surface and the band around the perimeter were useful panels on which to illustrate either individual or serialised themes. Sometimes, the very function of the object – to enlighten – complemented the symbolism of the decoration: for instance, on our example from Cartagena the protecting and ‘illuminating’ powers of Serapis and Isis are hinted at (Podvin, 2011). The divine couple is represented in the form of overlapping portraits (in profile).  Images of their son Harpocrates (thePtolemaic Horus) abound –for example, in this
volute lamp. Plutarch’s ‘weak-legged’ child (De Is. et Os. 19) is often depicted with a finger on or near his mouth, and this was an attribute used in Egypt to identify infants and which in Rome was associated with the silence that must accompany any religious ritual.

La difusión y puesta en valor son pilares básicos en la gestión del patrimonio cultural en todas sus vertientes. Su puesta en marcha merece una continua revisión a la luz de nuevas herramientas, disciplinas y estrategias de comunicación que se van incorporando continuamente. Por ello, se ofrece una serie de estrategias para la potenciación de la actividad turística-educativa-cultural de la cerámica de Talavera de la Reina, declarada Bien de Interés Cultural en 2015. Así pues, se pone de manifiesto el importante papel de este recurso patrimonial para el impulso socioeconómico en el contexto local.

Proposals for the diffusion and valorisation of the ceramics found in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo): productions from Prehistory to the Middle Ages.

Abstract: Diffusion and valorisation are essential in any kind of cultural heritage management. It is necessary to be up to date in new tools, studies and communication strategies which are constantly evolving or being created. This is why, here, we propose some strategies to help promote the cultural, educational and touristic activities related to the ceramic in Talavera de la Reina, which was declared Bien de Interés Cultural 1 in 2015. In this sense, we highlight the important role of this heritage asset in local economic and social development.

The article presents some of the preliminary results of the project Carta Archeologica del Comune di Nettuno, conducted by the Groningen Instituut of Archaeology (GIA). Surveys within the borders of the community of Nettuno show the presence of a subsistence based economy at least until the mid-Republican period. The construction or paving of the road from Lanuvium to Antium triggers a dramatic shift in settlement type and location and brings the social-economic integration within the Roman Empire for the area under study.

In the summer of 2006, during the digging of geotechnical test pits on the site of a former sports field, workmen heard a sound ‘like breaking glass’ as hundreds of copper-alloy coins fell out of the JCB bucket. This dramatic discovery of a hoard of almost 3600 Roman coins was the precursor to an archaeological investigation, mostly undertaken in 2008, of the western edge of the scheduled ancient monument of Snodland Roman villa. Although the villa had been investigated on several occasions, both by antiquarians and more recently, its origins and development were in general poorly understood, and it was hoped that the new excavations might offer a framework for the beginnings of its reconsideration. However, it must be borne in mind that this site differs from the previous excavations, being located not in the main villa residences but some 80m to the west at the interface between the outer buildings and the agricultural land. The findings, mostly of pits and ditches, rather than of mosaics and hypocausts, reflect this peripheral location, although a somewhat enigmatic concentric building with masonry foundations was also identified.
The evidence for pre-Roman activity on the site was limited to a few pits and a late prehistoric trackway with some ditched elements of an adjacent field. Roman occupation at the site began in the middle of the 1st century AD with a field boundary, probably laid out as part of the founding of the villa to the east. Also recovered was the earliest evidence of buildings from Snodland – a significant assemblage of residual Neronian ceramic building material from a bath house.
Towards the end of the 1st century AD, the site was extensively occupied for the first time. A building with masonry foundations (B1) was constructed in the extreme east, most of which is beyond the eastern limits of the site, and a rigorous linear system of fields laid out to the south and west. Building 1 had an apparent concentric layout with a central room surrounded by a corridor, and represented a distinctive, if poorly understood, building type found mainly in Kent.
The modified building (B1) survived until the 3rd century AD, when it was at least partially demolished and replaced by a larger structure (B2). Two possible timber buildings (B3 and B4) were also constructed to the north and south, and the surrounding field system reorganised.
Building 2 was an enlargement of Building 1 and, in terms of form, appeared to be its direct successor, maintaining the same concentric plan, but with the corridor element subdivided into small rooms. Its function was uncertain; one of the rooms may have been a kitchen and there was some evidence for the storage of crops.
The early to mid 4th century AD saw a significant decline and change in the nature of the activity on the site. Building 2 and the possible outbuildings (B3 and B4) were demolished and the fields fell out of use. The site was largely abandoned and the most significant new land use was a small enclosed inhumation cemetery (C1). Two coin hoards, one found during the preliminary geotechnical works on the site, were located towards the southern boundary of the excavation area. From the post-Roman period until recently, the site appeared to have remained as open ground with no significant occupation identified.

The second Aguntum workshop focused on the location of the Municipium Claudium Aguntum on the upper reaches of the Drava. The contributions published in volume 3 of the series Ager Aguntinus investigate to what extent the Roman settlements along the river route were in contact with each other – from the source of the Drava to its confluence with the Danube. Archaeological findings from Austria, Slovenia and Croatia suggest possible connection points.
The importance of river routes as trade routes in Roman times is indicated by the research presented on the traffic routes along the Po in northern Italy and the Ljubljanica in Slovenia. Not least on the basis of corresponding findings from Aguntum and Aquileia, it becomes clear that river ports are to be expected in Roman cities. In this way, the volume offers not only a compilation of Roman findings from these very settlements but also a discussion of the significance of river trade, even beyond the Drava River.

THE ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY OF THE ROMAN PERIOD PHASE C1 IN THE LIGHT OF SAMIAN WARE FINDS ON THE TERRITORY OF THE PRZEWORSK CULTURE.
SUMMARY
Samian ware belong to the group of important sources enabling to attempt reconstruction of contacts between the Roman Empire and European Barbaricum. It results from the signifi cant number of fi nds of that kind of ceramics coming from various territories outside the Roman limes, as well as from the possibility of determining places and the sequence of the production of these products, as well as from the diversified group of their recipients. Studies based on dispersion of
these finds are playing an important role, enabling to conclude about the model of the distribution of Roman products on these areas. Finds of the Samian ware also have an essential importance for the study of the absolute chronology of development phases of „barbaric” cultures of Europe.
We can establish as the base of the synchronization of recalled stylistic changes with the absolute chronology of Samian ware, that terminus post quem determines the period of the start-up of the production of an individual Samian ware.
Presented in older literature attempts of the interpretation of the Samian ware infl ux to the territory of Central-European Barbaricum pointed, that it took place not necessarily at the same time as beginnings of the activity of workshops producing them. It is possible we can accept with the higher probability, that Samian ware fi nds are not evidences of the
most late phase of the activity of these workshops as well.
Presumably the period of distribution and later using of one Samian vessel in the environment of the Przeworsk culture every time could be a bit different. With exception of finds dated by historical events, we have no data enabling us to determine more precisely the period, after which the deposition of the vessel could take place. Precise determining of the Samian ware usage is hampered by the specifi c of the sepulchral rite in the environment of the Przeworsk culture. Very often it is impossible to recommend expressively, which items present in the inventory of the cremation burial could be used by the deceased intravital, which were gifts given by participants to the commitment service, and which got to the assemblage by chance. Basing on the less numerous fi nds from the settlement contexts, we can only suppose, if these imports – Samian ware - could be used for instance in a household, and if so, how long this usage took place. Proper interpretation of the sepulchral fi nds could be sometimes hampered by cases when we notice pieces of the same Samian vessel in different graves or fragments of more than one vessel in one assemblage. Presumably such situations are caused by the repeated use of the same cremation place. However sometimes we can reconstruct possible sequence of these cremations, what was proved by the study of the assemblages containing Samian from the cemetery of the Przeworsk culture in Opatów, Kłobuck poviat.
One may record a distinct progress in the research of the places of production of Samian ware and the dating of the activity of workshops producing this pottery, and even more so, as a result of a signifi cant increase in the number of source evidence. It applies most of all to Przeworsk Culture, now with a record of 92 closed assemblages containing Samian pottery, originating from 33 sites (Fig. 1). This is more than twice the number available at the time of the start of earlier studies addressing the absolute chronology of the phases of the Roman Period basing on Samian ware present in grave inventories from the entire territory of the Barbaricum.
However these new fi nds of Samian ware from the Przeworsk Culture territory have not signifi cantly changed the overall view of the infl ux of these imports, nevertheless some individual finds have come to light, originating from workshops not represented earlier in the record of Samian ware in our study area. First of all, there has been a visible increase in the number of finds from the youngest wave of the influx of Samian, produced during the 3rd century AD – mainly at Westerndorf
and at Pfaffenhofen.
Presented analysis is focused mainly on the phase C1of the younger Roman period. Many assemblages of the Przeworsk culture coming from this stage contain Samian ware belonging to the main wave of its infl ux on the territory of the Polish land. Basing on such assemblages we have more data useful for determining the absolute chronology of phase C1a as well (Fig. 2). Only a handful of grave assemblages from
this phase contain Samian ware manufactured after AD 160, at Rheinzabern or at Lubié. The majority of these workshops, except for the workshop of CASURIUS at Lubié, continued to produce their wares over several decades, presumably, until AD 210s/220s. A similarly modest number of grave assemblages from phase C1a contain Samian manufactured starting from AD 175 until 210–220 (from Rheinzabern and Westerndorf). A number of further grave inventories from
phase C1a contain even younger wares, originating from the workshop of HELENIUS in Westerndorf, active in AD 200–230, and possibly a little longer. In the group of grave assemblages likely to date from phase C1a there are also two finds with Samian ware produced by the potter HELENIUS who was active at Pfaffenhofen in the period AD 210–250.
The largest group (more than 30 graves) is formed by assemblages assigned to phase C1 but their dating cannot be refi ned further – either to phase C1a or to phase C1b (Fig. 3). Despite this they have some relevance for the dating of the origins and the time of the spread of the Younger Roman Period style. Only in a single case a grave dated broadly
to phase C1, presumably its earlier stage, contained a Samian ware vessel produced in AD 150–170 at Rheinzabern. Of the remainder nearly a half are inventories containing Samian ware produced only between AD 175 and 210–220, some of them, even until 230. These are the wares from Rheinzabernand from Westerndorf. The same number of inventories dated to an unspecifi ed stage of phase C1, contain somewhat later wares, with a dating of between AD 190/200 and 230s, and some, as late as AD 245/250 (from Rheinzabern, group IIc; Rheinzabern, group IIIa and from Westerndorf).
The extended period of activity of individual workshops producing Samian ware makes it rather diffi cult to specify more closely of the relationship between fi nds attributed to successive chronological phases. This observation applies also to the correlation of phases C1a and C1b. The latter phase is represented in the investigated material by a small number of inventories (Fig. 3). They contain Samian produced in AD 175–210/220 (from Rheinzabern and Westerndorf) or AD 200–230 (from Westerndorf). From phase C1b comes also a number of grave fi nds with Samian ware produced at Pfaffenhofen in DICANUS style, AD 230–260. Thus, Samian ware finds confirm that artefacts recognized as
typical for phase C1b were in use presumably already during the late 2nd century, or the fi rst and the second decade of the 3rd century, contemporaneously with forms typical for phase C1a. Because, if we assume that the Samian ware from AD 170–210/220 does not come from the fi nal years of activity of the workshops which produced them, we have to accept that the fi nd from Chorula (grave 151) confi rms a surmise drawn on the basis of Roman iconography on the early appearance of shield-bosses with a hemispherical body without a collar,
prior to the period of the spread of the style of phase C1b. This is shown by the sarcophagus from Via Tiburtina-Portonaccio, dating from AD 180s, with a depiction of a shield boss of a form corresponding to the find from Chorula.
We may conclude that inventories with the youngest imports of Samian ware, the wares of HELENIUS of Westerndorf and somewhat younger wares from Pfaffenhofen (HELENIUS, DICANUS), originate still from the final years of phase C1. These grave inventories, like the relatively abundant other wares from Pfaffenhofen discovered without a specified context, would be evidence of a much more intensive Przeworsk Culture settlement during phase C1b, than might be concluded basing on the known finds of artefacts of a form recognized as markers of this phase.
The number of currently known assemblages dated by Samian vessels shows that, in determining the chronology of the onset of the younger Roman period, our basis are mainly sepulchral Przeworsk culture assemblages containing this pottery. To some extent observations presented here relative to the dating of the onset and the duration of phase C1b find confi rmation also in fi nds of assemblages with Samian ware from the territory of the Wielbark Culture. The correctness of our observations is indicated also by the relatively modest number of closed assemblages containing Samian ware from other regions of the Central European Barbaricum.
The cultural change during the younger Roman period did not unfold by leaps and bounds, and the periodization scheme used universally for this period refl ects only a general sequence of successive stylistic changes and, as such, does not allow a closer absolute dating also of the fi nds which are recognized as characteristic for a particular phase.
Prof. dr hab. Piotr Kaczanowski (†)
Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
ul. Gołębia 11, PL 31-007 Kraków
Dr Andrzej Przychodni
Wojewódzki Urząd Ochrony Zabytków w Kielcach
ul. Zamkowa 5, PL 25-009 Kielce
andrzejp@korzenie.gimnazjum.com.pl

A summary of over a decade of surveys and excavations at the site of a previously unknown Roman period settlement at the southern end of Margary's RR14 road from London at Bridge Farm, Nr. Barcombe Mills, Lewes, East Sussex, England. Investigations at the site are ongoing and this paper is in the form of a project diary which will need many more years of research before a final written report can be produced. Currently evidence suggests activity at the site from mid/late 1st century through to lthe early 5th with a short-lasting double earthwork defensive enclosure constructed during the late 2nd/early 3rd century. The settlement appears to be based on commercial/strategic requirements more than purely residential providing a transfer hub from road to river at the junction od roads from London, Pevensey and Chichester. More details are available on the projet website: www.culverporject.co.uk.

Dear Colleague,
We would like to thank you very sincerely for your presentation at the international symposium, entitled “Unguentarium. A terracotta vessel form and other related vessels in the Hellenistic, Roman and early Byzantine Mediterranean in Izmir, Turkey”. Between May 17 and 18, 2018 we have hosted c. 50 participants from 15 countries and 34 papers dealing with terracotta unguentaria were presented in these two days of symposium. We ask you to send us your paper, if it deals with terracotta unguentaria. The Editorial Board asks you kindly to provide an original, previously unpublished and scientific paper, dealing with unpublished materials from excavated or surveyed sites or from the museums with previously unpublished photos without copyright problems.

Das Marschgebiet, das sich entlang der ganzen Wattenmeer-Küste der Niederlande und Deutschlands erstreckt, ist gekennzeichnet durch tausende Wohnhügel, die ab ca. 600 vor Christus als Schutz vor dem Meer aufgeworfen wurden. In Friesland werden diese Wohnhügel Terpen genannt.
Die Erde wurde zur Bodenverbesserung für die nährstoffarmen Moore und Sandgebiete im Inland an Landwirte verkauft. Während dieser kommerziellen Abgrabungen entdeckte man die Überreste der alten Siedlungen. Wenn möglich wurden Funde gesammelt. Unter diesen Funden befanden sich Tausende von Gegenständen römischer Herkunft, meistens Terra Sigillata.
In diesem Artikel wird vorerst nur die T.S. aus friesischen Terpen beschrieben, obwohl in archäologischer Hinsicht die Funde aus Friesland, Groningen und Norddeutschland zusammengehören.
Für diese Studie wurden 2264 Fragmente untersucht nach Typ, Herkunft, Töpfer, Datierung und teils nach Benutzungsspuren. Die reliefverzierte Ware wird in einem Katalog präsentiert (Beilage 1; Abb. 4, 7-19). Die Information über die glatte Sigillata wird separat veröffentlicht (Volkers 2016). Die Stempel auf reliefverzierter und unverzierter Ware wurden beschrieben durch Dr. M. Polak (Radboud Universitet Nijmegen) und werden im Anhang präsentiert (Beilage 2).

Análisis del material cerámico de carácter arqueológico que ha recopilado el pintor granaidno Brazam a lo largo de casi cinco décadas, muchas de ellas de origen ibérico y algunas rarezas entre las que se encunetran incluso algunos falsos como las cerámicas ibéricas figuradas, pero que resultan muy interesantes desde el punto de vista historiográfico

Resumen: La presente contribución ofrece nuevos datos so-bre el alfar romano de Cartuja (Granada), obtenidos durante el seguimiento arqueológico preventivo desarrollado en el Campus de Cartuja de la Universidad de Granada con motivo de su reciente reurbanización. La amplitud del seguimiento ha permitido documentar nuevas áreas productivas y estruc-turas, entre ellas dos nuevos hornos y piletas de decantación de arcillas, así como distintas áreas de vertidos. Basándose en estos datos, el presente artículo realiza una aproximación pre-liminar a su organización y topografía, en la que parece que existieron diversos sectores productivos lo suficientemente distanciados como para plantear un modelo de alfar subur-bano de organización diseminada. Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present the last outcomes of the Roman pottery workshop of Cartuja (Granada), obtained from the archaeological intervention undertaken in connection with the recent improvements of the Cartuja campus of the University of Granada. This intervention has enabled to report new functional workshop areas and structures, such as two new kilns and clay pools, and also different waste tip areas. Based on this data, this paper presents a preliminary approach to the different productive areas organization and topography, where there were various productive sectors separated each other that belongs to a spread suburban pottery center.

This study investigates African Red Slip Ware (ARS), kitchen ware and lamps from Augusta Vindelicum (Augsburg/Bavaria). The aim is to better understand both the settlement and economic history of the provincial capital of Raetia via its pottery assemblage. Analysis of the material offers further information on typology, chronology, provenance and quantity. Ceramic products from North and Central Tunisian pottery production centres are dateable from the late 1st to the first half of the 5th century AD. A selection of ARS and lamp fragments was subjected to chemical analyses by wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF) to examine provenance and mechanisms of supply. North African cooking ware is represented with only a few fragments that are associated with an influx of people into the province with Mediterranean cooking habits. The relatively high number of lamps in Augusta Vindelicum is attributed to the demand of a wealthy clientele in the provincial capital. Following the section on typology and chronology, the state of research on Late Roman features and small finds from both sides of the Roman town wall of Augsburg is summarized. This forms a basis of discussion for the continuity of settlement and the expansion of Augsburg in Late Antiquity. The distribution of African ceramics in Augsburg is then presented on chronologically differentiated maps. These indicate that there was no reduction in settlement during the 4th and first half of the 5th centuries. The final chapter examines distribution patterns of North African ceramics in Raetia. The quantity and variety of forms in Augsburg stand out in particular within the overall ceramic assemblage of Raetia. This is in part due to continued intensive excavation. It is argued that the large amount of North African ceramics in the provincial capital is evidence for a local demand for high-quality tableware. Furthermore, in contrast to most Raetian sites, Augsburg offers a statistically significant amount of North African ceramics. The chronologically important material is a crucial archaeological source for long-distance trade and the history of Augusta Vindelicum. It also serves as a reference for cross-regional comparative studies.

Reviews:
M.-A. Haldimann, Rez. zu Ferdinand Heimerl, Nordafrikanische Sigillata, Küchenkeramik und Lampen aus Augusta Vindelicum/Augsburg. Jahrbuch Archäologie Schweiz 98, 2015, 278.
H. G. Cesteros, Rez. zu Ferdinand Heimerl, Nordafrikanische Sigillata, Küchenkeramik und Lampen aus Augusta Vindelicum/Augsburg. Bonner Jahrbücher 215, 2015, 511–512.
J. Lund, A meticulous study of N African pottery from Augsburg (Raetia). Journal of Roman archaeology 29,2, 2016, 855–857.
M. Auer, Rez. zu Ferdinand Heimerl, Nordafrikanische Sigillata, Küchenkeramik und Lampen aus Augusta Vindelicum/Augsburg. Bayerische Vorgeschichtsblätter 82, 2017, 234–236.

South Gaulish terra sigillata of La Graufesenque was produced on a large scale and exceptionally widely exported in the western provinces and beyond in the 1st century AD; and other South Gaulish and the later Gaulish production centres in Central and East Gaul had far more regional export ranges, which follow a more normal pattern typical of fine pottery industries in the Roman Empire.
In terms of production levels and distribution, the Central and East Gaulish potteries and smaller potteries of South Gaul seem to fit the pattern of many other pottery producing centres in the Roman world throughout the 1st to 6th centuries, such as various centres in Spain, Britain, Asia Minor, and Egypt. These all produced finewares (usually red-slipped) for regional consumption, or for specialist trade to a particular regional market, but not for large-scale long-distance trade. On the other hand, the South Gaulish pottery workshops of La Graufesenque were comparable to the terra sigillata italica (‘Arretine’) production centres of the preceding century and to later centres of production in Tunisia and the Eastern Mediterranean, which produced large quantities of fine pottery which were widely exported to many different regions.
What unusual factors impelled the Gaulish workshops of La Graufesenque alone to become a large-scale export centre in the 1st century AD? The aim of this paper is to explore and assess some factors by looking at La Graufesenque in relation to its context - other types of production, transport and supply systems and natural resources - and in comparisons with other regions of the empire which also produced widely exported pottery, or which notably did not.