Ceramic technology between the Third and Second Millennium BC. New insights from Southern Mesopotamia

This paper is the result of a pilot project conducted at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia and based on a selection of pottery vessels from Nippur (area TB) dated at the transition between the late Akkadian and Isin-Larsa period (2350-1763 BC). The continuity in occupation, and the presence of precise chronological markers make area TB a perfect case study for a diachronic analysis of the ceramic repertoire of this period. The aim of the project is a detailed reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire, fundamental for understanding the pottery repertoire from a technological point of view. Focusing on the late third millennium BC pottery assemblage, the chaîne opératoire approach can be used to discern the organisation and scale of production and the transmission of technical and technological knowledge through time, thus linking pottery production to the economic and social spheres. Macro- and meso-scale observations of pottery allow the identification of manufactural evidences useful for a preliminary reconstruction of the production sequence. Through this approach some aspects of continuity and discontinuity emerged, among which the identification of a new technique (trimming) at the very beginning of the second millennium BC, which can indicate significant technological development in pottery production.