Revolutions
The introduction of the potter’s wheel to southern Britain, and its implications for understanding Late Iron Age societies
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11615398 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Adam Sutton (0000-0002-6990-314X, Department of Research and Engagement, Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), Northampton, UK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 177 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 214-255 |
| Publication date | 2020-07-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0066-5983 • E-ISSN: 2373-2288 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00665983.2020.1805096 |
| OpenAlex | W3086892596 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 36 |
The introduction of the potter’s wheel was one of the fundamental technological changes in the later Iron Age of southern Britain. Despite this, wheel technology remains an under-analysed aspect of Iron Age material culture, with discussion of technology remaining constrained by a simplistic opposition between ‘wheelmade’ and ‘handmade’ wares. New data are presented in this paper which substantially improve our understanding of how the potter’s wheel was used during the first decades of its employment by British potters. Using an approach informed by material agency and practice theory, focus is placed on the dynamic use of wheel technology as a way of exploring the experiences and decision-making processes of craftspeople living in this turbulent period. Based on these new data, it is argued that previous studies have over-emphasised the role of economic factors such as productive efficiency in causing technological change. The results instead support a use-led hypothesis for the adoption of wheel technology as well as an economic mentality which was not profit-driven. The agency of wheel technology is also explored and is identified as playing a potential grassroots role in Late Iron Age social change, as well as a formative role in the emergent identities of semi-professional craftspeople
Economic geography · Geography · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History
Technologies of Enchantment?
Ceramic Petrography
Of bicycles, bakelites, and bulbs
Pottery Analysis, Second Edition
The Later Iron Age in Britain and Beyond
Resistance is Futile? Ceramic Technology and Social Change in Later Iron Age and Early Roman Britain
Technological Choices
The Pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain and Ireland (ca. 800 B.C. to A.D. 100)
Archaeologies of Materiality
How is technology made?--That is the question
Globalizing the local in Roman Britain
Production and Distribution of Pottery and Salt in Iron Age Britain
The Missing Step of Pottery chaîne opératoire
The Seamless Web
Identification of wheel throwing on the basis of ceramic surface features and microfabrics
Looking through pots
Identification of Wheel-fashioning Methods
The Belgae of Gaul and Britain
Industrial specialization in late Iron Age Britain and Europe
Late Bronze Age Pottery Production
X-Radiography of Knossian Bronze Age Vessels
Pottery Manufacturing Techniques
The Challenge of ‘Technological Choices’for Materials Science Approaches in Archaeology
Material agency
The Roman Object Revolution
The Aylesford-Swarling Culture
Elements for an Anthropology of Technology
Entangled
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |