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Principal Investigator: Dr. Francisco Jesús Núñez Calvo
Contact: f.nunezcalvo@uw.edu.pl
Project collaborators:
- Dr. Urszula Wicenciak-Núñez (PCMA UW)
- Dr. Michał Kruger (Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan)
- Dr. Violeta Moreno Mejías (University of Seville, Spain)
- Dr. Przemysław Niedzielski (Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznan)
- José María López Garí (Posidonia S.L., Ibiza, Spain)
Project term:
September 2022 to September 2025
Budget:
PLN 816 715
Funding:
National Science Centre in Poland, UMO-2021-/43B/HS3/00354
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A holistic approach to ceramic production in Tyre from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity. A diachronic and technological definition of a traditional economic activity
Keywords: pottery production; Tyre; ceramic analysis; ceramic ecology
This project aims to define, characterize, and contextualize 3000 years of pottery production in one of the oldest cities in the World and one of the main economic centers in Antiquity: Tyre (Lebanon), from its earliest evidence of human occupation in the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period (3rd millennium BCE till 7th century CE).
The approach regards ceramic production as a complex and continuous phenomenon developed linearly throughout time. This economic activity was oriented to satisfy the demand emanating from the needs and habits of the society and the requirements of the productive sector. Moreover, its complexity represents the sum of previous experiences modified by changing technological, social, economic, religious, and political factors.
In accordance with these premisses, this study applies the concept of the ‘ceramic process’ or ‘ceramic ecology,’ which analyzes all stages, from the extraction of raw materials to the workshop and, from there, to the distribution and use of the vessel in a domestic, ritual, or industrial context. Essential results include the identification and definition of Tyrian ceramic products, which must be based on a synchronic and diachronic identification and characterization of (1) their fabrics and variations, (2) their distribution among specific types and wares, and (3) the socioeconomic dimension represented by the demand for those products.
Image: Typical common fabrics from Tyre in different periods (a: Early Bronze Age; b: Iron Age; c: Persian/Hellenistic; d: Roman; photos by Francisco J. Núñez, Urszula Wicenciak-Núñez)
Associated events:Lectures and conference presentations:October 17-21, 2022: X International Congress of Phoenician and Punic Studies. Ibiza, Communications:
- Núñez Calvo, F. J.: ‘Notes and corrections on the chronology of the Late Iron Age in the central Levant’. In press.
- Núñez Calvo, F. J., A. Badawi, M. E. Aubet, A. M. Arruda, A. Mederos, U. Wicenciak, D. Montanero, L. de Lellis, E. de Sousa, S. Popłaski, J. M. López Garí, M. Mackiewicz, J. Świda: ‘The sacral compound of Roman times of the Acropolis of Tyre and the traditional Levantine temple’
October 17-21, 2022: A holistic approach to ceramic production in Tyre from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity. A diachronic and technological definition of a traditional economic activity (poster), X International Congress of Phoenician and Punic Studies, Ibiza
May 24, 2022 International workshop: Red Slip in central and western Mediterranean between the 9th and the 6th century BC. Tracking lasting features, local peculiarities, and technological innovations. PMSea PRIN2017 Project. Rome. Key Lecture: Francisco J. Núñez: ‘Iron Age red-slipped wares in a social context’. In press.
May 20 2022 International workshop: Ceramic bichromy in the Eastern Mediterranean during the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, Archaeological Research Unit, University of Cyprus. Communication: Núñez Calvo, F. J.: ‘Traditions and particularities among Phoenician bichrome wares over the Mediterranean’. In press.
May 12-13, 2022 International Webinar: Levantine and Phoenician commercial amphorae between east and west: patterns of innovation (16th-7th centuries BCE). Heritage Science on Air, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Institute of Heritage Science. Communication: Núñez Calvo, F. J.: ‘Storage jars in Tyre vs. storage jars from Tyre’. In press.
February 17, 2022 PCMA Weminar: The 2021 campaign of archaeological excavations on the acropolis of Tyre. The Roman temple compound.
June 9-11, 2021 Poles in the Near East archaeological conference. Communication: Núñez Calvo, F. J.: “The protomaifrom Jiyeh. Their sequential and chronological context”.
December 8-11, 2020 International Digital Conference: Beyond Cyprus: Investigating Cypriot connectivity in the Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Classical period. Institute of Historical Research and the National Hellenic Research Foundation. Communication: Núñez Calvo, F. J.: “The beginning of the Cyrpo-Archaic I. A view from the East”.
Project bibliography:2023 (due for publication) Núñez Calvo, F: J.: El origen levantino de las ánforas de cuello fenicias ultramarinas: un análisis de su trasfondo tipológico, contexto secuencial y escenarios funcionales. SPAL.
2022 Núñez Calvo, F. J.: Review of the book: D. Regev: New light on Canaanite-Phoenician pottery. Worlds of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. Equinox Publishing, Sheffield and Bristol, 2020, Ancient West and East 21: 461-463.
2022 Núñez Calvo, F. J.: ‘Alfareros orientales en alfares occidentales: contextualizando la producción cerámica fenicia en el Mediterráneo’, Ex Officina Hispana 13: 81-96.
2022 Núñez Calvo, F. J.: ‘The beginning of the Cypro-Archaic I period. A revision proposal’, in G. Bourogiannis (ed.), Beyond Cyprus: investigating Cypriot connectivity in the Mediterranean from the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Classical Period (Aura Supplement 9). Athens: Faculty of History and Archaeology: 351-363.
2021 Núñez Calvo, F. J.: ‘La demanda como motor de la diáspora fenicia en el Mediterráneo central y Occidental’, in S. F. Bondì, M. Botto, G. Garbati, I. Oggiano (eds.), Tra le coste del Levante e le terre del tramonto. Studi in ricordo di Paolo Bernardini. Studi in Honore di Paolo Bernardini (Collezione di Studi Fenici 51). Roma: CNR Edizioni: 103-112.
2021 Núñez Calvo, F. J.: Local amphorae in the Tyrian cemetery of al-Bass: typology, chronology, and function. Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean 30/2: 129-180.
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