Data is the buzz word of the moment and the recording of archaeological data is greater than it ever has been. Pottery, as one of the commonest artefacts to be found on most sites, lends itself to detailed quantitative and qualitative analyses using a number of different attributes. Roman pottery was made to be used, and one of the main foci of this use is in the domain of the household (be it a farmstead, villa or a military establishment), for the preparation, cooking and serving of food and drink. It is also often found in burial or religious contexts. The growing availability of quantified databases, combined with a concern that the potential of pottery assemblages was under-exploited beyond the study of chronology, typology, production and distribution, led two of the authors (Allison and Pitts) to propose the Big Data on the Roman Table (BDRT) project (funded by the AHRC). This digital publication represents the results of two workshops held in 2016 at Leicester and Exeter, attended by an international group of researchers from universities, government bodies and commercial establishments.
The purpose of the 20 papers presented is to review, as well as challenge, our current perspectives on the role of pottery, particularly from a sociocultural viewpoint, to introduce new ways of thinking about pottery at household, community, regional and international levels, and to refine and develop new techniques for its analysis. The main focus is the early Roman Empire (first to second century a.d.), coinciding with the floruit of the most intensively studied of all tablewares: terra sigillata.
Following an introductory paper (Allison), the chapters are divided into five sections: ‘Analysing vessel use’, ‘Table setting and consumption practices’, ‘New techniques for collation, analysis and visualisation’, ‘Getting pots to the table: broader perspectives’ and ‘Discussion of this network’. Three appendices outline the definitions and terminology, provide a glossary and detail the format of the workshops and papers given.
As might be expected, the range of information discussed is considerable. In broad terms the papers embrace specific classes of ware, such as terra sigillata (Dannell; Mees; Luley), Black Gloss ware (Banducci, Opitz and Mogetta) and Pannonian slipware (Leleković), and locational case studies from Leicester (Cooper, Johnson and Sterry), Roman Celtiberia (Bermejo Tirado), Gaul (Dananai and Deru), Asia Minor (Willet), London (Marshall and Seeley) and burial contexts (Biddulph). Two contributions are directed more towards functional analysis (van de Veen; Baddiley). Other papers are more focused on automated visualisation (Tyukin, Sofeikov, Levelsy, Gorban, Allison and Cooper; Christmas and Pitts), GIS combined with statistical analyses (Sterry) and creating an ontology from legacy data (van Helden, Hong and Allison). Colley and Evans highlight recent UK initiatives to improve standards of pottery studies, provide feedback on a survey of the methodology employed by individuals for pottery analysis and consider the implications of future developments in pottery research. The final chapter by Willis presents a skilful and balanced discussion and commentary on the themes that emerged from the workshop.
Of the 31 authors contributing to this volume, 28 come from universities or research-status institutions, two from UK commercial units and there is one independent researcher. Unfortunately, it is the case, in Britain at least, that most of the pottery specialists in the commercial world who create much of the data are constrained by working within tight budgets and focusing on chronology and site- or assemblage-related questions. There is rarely opportunity to explore or develop new patterns of thinking beyond the boundaries of a site report and if this happens it is down to the individual in their own time and usually using their own data. It is important that there is a dialogue between the specialist and the excavator – the pottery has to be seen in terms of the site context not as a stand-alone artefact – but increasingly, in this reviewer's own experience, the latter is becoming the norm.
Ironically, although the volume is directed towards Big Data, with perhaps the exception of three contributions, the ‘data’ used to create the papers are not accessible. To be able to move forward and for conclusions to be assessed and validated, the raw data need to be available for future studies.
This collection of papers not only directs us to new possibilities and ways of thinking for the future, but also makes us think innovatively. The editors are to be congratulated on the commendable speed at which the work has been made available and one hopes this will bring pottery studies back to the fore.
