Tanneries

The book we are preparing aims to shed light upon ἐργαστήρια in the ancient world, investigating the architectural form, layout and locality of workshops within the overall (urban, religious or other) site-plan, on the basis of physical remains or inferred (e.g. epigraphically) existence.  Often the only traces left behind are stone flakes or abort products, but very seldom remnants of the building itself. The ephemeral nature of workplaces comes in sharp contrast to the sense of permanence, endurance or monumentality given out by the artefacts created inside them. Workplaces sheltered within domestic quarters and functioning also as shops can be identified by their immediate outlet to a street. Most intriguing is a worksite in action and what the premises looked like during the process of construction. We wish to expand beyond ceramic workshops, kilns and foundries, to tanneries, lapidaries, dying installations etc, to pinpoint their localities with reference to the respective urban, cultic or quarrying/mining context, as well as to understand their form, spatial arrangement and lifespan. Evidence for the operation of a workshop, such as portable finds, may be referred to, only to help us embed the installation notionally and topographically in its proper setting. Architectural worksites disclose another facet, that is, of an edifice or an architectural complex in the making. In the case of public or religious building programs, monumentality is the common denominator. Undoubtedly, the production of large-scale monuments in architecture and sculpture entailed particular management, structure and organization. What were the spatial and technical prerequisites for carrying out such projects, and with what bearing upon the site? What was the backstage (practical issues, decision making etc) of the erection of a colossal temple or a gigantic sculpture? We concentrate on the process and preparation, rather than the final product and outcome.