[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]
This edited volume on ancient craft production and their value represents a significant publication insofar as it epitomises new scholarly trends in material culture studies within Classical Archaeology. The aim of the volume is to go beyond traditional analyses of ancient (finished) artifacts by focusing instead on their makers, their handling of materials, and their role within networks of production and consumption. It partly builds upon papers presented at the session of the same name organised by the editors at the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology in Bonn and Cologne in 2018.
The title of the volume is evocative, as its aim is to analyse ancient craft production from the perspective of the labour, energy, and skills behind them to show that making has a value and that such value is key to objects’ use and meaning. In thirteen papers arranged in four parts, the contributors present and discuss several forms of crafts and/or crafted objects—such as sarcophagi, musical instruments (auloi), dolia, helmets, cameos, seals, war equipment, and buildings—exploring facets of their production, from the tools involved and the operational sequence (chaîne opératoire) to workshop organisation and procurement of raw material (marble, bronze, wood, textiles, clay, semiprecious stones) through to recycling and repairing. Overall, the selection of case studies, spanning chronologically from the Bronze Age Aegean to Late Antiquity, aptly illustrates the significance of the making process, its actors, and its value(s). Several contributions adopt theories and methods developed outside the field of Classical Archaeology, some grounded in anthropological or philosophical discussions of phenomenological and cognitive approaches to making and learning, which go beyond traditional art-historical and taxonomical modes of studying objects.
In the Introduction, the editors situate the volume’s theme in relation to the recent surge of interest in craft and craftsmanship not just in academic debates, which have begun to take cognisance of the socio-cultural importance of making, but also within current communities of practice. The introduction establishes the volume’s conceptual framework, which builds upon recent phenomenological approaches and theories of embodied cognition, such as ‘tactility of making’ and ‘haptic learning’. Such approaches call for a full sensual and experiential engagement with the process of making and materials, chiefly inspired by the work of anthropologist Tim Ingold. The authors here adopt the perspective of the makers in order to explore how their minds worked and to understand what ‘made making valuable and value makeable in the ancient world’ (p.7). An artifact’s value is a consequence of the makers’ ability to interact with their materials. As the editors underline, however, the value of crafted objects resides in multiple, intertwined factors, which include the perceptions of viewers and users at all levels. Such multiplicity is mirrored by the variety of views offered by the contributions, which are grouped according to four overarching themes: communities of making; craft organization and identity; form, function and authenticity; and old crafts for the future.
The first part opens with Ann Brysbaert and Helle Hochscheid’s chapter (1) which, through a series of current and past case studies, explores the relationship between making and society by looking at the socio-economic value of craft-practice and the role and status of crafts and craftspeople within their communities. Their analysis revolves around the concepts of self-identification and ownership to show that the act of making brings makers a sense of identity, enhanced through exchange with society, and control over the environment. This essay, in which the two authors’ individual research focuses converge (as readers familiar with their work will recognise), is densely argued with the intent of covering the multiple aspects of crafts and the infinite combination of interwoven socio-economic, political, religious, gendered, and geographical factors involved; the complexity of the argumentation, however, makes it difficult to follow. Splitting the case studies into two essays or limiting the topics discussed would have made their contribution more accessible.
In this part, particularly illuminating is Beth Munro’s chapter (4) which introduces the modern concept of ‘maker spaces’ (workspaces dedicated to independent labour and shared by fabricators) to analyse recycling workshops in Late Antiquity. Large, multi-material workshops were set up and shared by artisans in formerly domestic or social spaces within rural villas and non-residential urban buildings between the fifth and the seventh century AD. Through the architectural assessment of four case studies—the Crypta Balbi in Rome, and the rural villas at Monte Gelato, Faragola and Aiano-Torraccia di Chiusi (Italy)—Munro explores the organisation of such collective workspaces and issues of property/business ownership. As Munro shows, conversion entailed substantial alteration of the spaces and the installation of industrial facilities, such as kilns and workbenches. She examines how different kinds of materials intended for recycling – metal, glass, ivory, marble – were sourced from within the same buildings whose structures would be converted, and how water, fuel and other resources were distributed among the craftspeople. She concludes that, just like modern ‘maker spaces’, these shared workspaces encouraged the development of new techniques by craftspeople of various expertise working close to one another.
The second part starts with Ben Russell’s chapter (5) which reassesses the validity of a chaîne opératoire-based analysis for insight into the mind of the maker, using Roman stone carving as a case study. Drawing upon recent criticisms of this model—among them Tim Ingold’s—for being too mechanical and product-focused, the author calls for a more fluid approach that echoes Ingold’s idea of the ‘textility of making’ (p. 84).[1] Through the analysis of tool marks on unfinished Roman stone sculpture, particularly sarcophagi and statuary, the author demonstrates that stone carving is not as linear and predictable a process as often imagined and that, especially in the case of sarcophagi, production sequences varied. Rather, not only did stone carvers react to the material by continuously modulating their tools and actions with their problem-solving skills, creativity and innovation, but they also responded to customers’ needs.[2]
Among the contributions in this part of the volume Danise van Hal and Helle Hochscheid’s chapter (7) stands out. These two authors investigate the networks of makers behind the production of ancient double flutes or auloi, made from one material (wood) or multiple materials (bronze, reed, bone, ivory). The authors apply Howard Becker’s art worlds theory which sees art as a collective action deriving from a cooperative network of various agents, who are as important to the creation of art as the artists themselves.[3] Through the analysis of the individual raw materials, from their procurement to their processing, together with illustrations and experimental reconstructions on the handling of such flutes, the authors make apparent that auloi making involved the collaboration of several individuals, from material suppliers through to the aulos-makers and the actual performers or auletes. Van Hal and Hochscheid’s study provides a stimulating outlook on an uncommon, yet fascinating class of ancient, crafted objects.
The third part, which opens with the contribution by Gert Jan van Wijngaarden (Chapter 9) on the uses, reuses and values of Near Eastern cylinder seals cut from semiprecious stones in the Late Bronze Age Aegean, the various chapters engage with artefacts’ value construction from the maker’s standpoint. Among these, Chapter 11 by Caroline Cheung on making and repairing pottery through the case of dolia is one of the most convincing. Her contribution provides stimulating insights into dolium repair types, their techniques and development over time. She employs the artefact life-history model to track the different stages of repairs and the interactions between the craft commodity, its makers, repairers, and users. Cheung’s analysis, accompanied by some very useful illustrations and tables, makes apparent that careful and innovative repair techniques allowed the reuse of dolia over long periods of time something which further testifies to their being valued and valuable objects. Her case study is consistent with the volume’s scope, which her thorough analysis represents in full.
Also particularly insightful is Kenneth Lapatin’s chapter (12) which explores ancient gem-cutting . Through a detailed analysis of numerous gems and cameos, some bearing the signatures of the artists (ancient and modern), their physical (e.g., colour) and technical features, Lapatin illustrates the art of cutting and engraving gems to show how the skilled work of the artisans enhanced their intrinsically valuable materials, such as agate, rock crystal, sardonyx and other precious and semi-precious stones. His examination of the engraved images and the symbolic, ideological, and magic functions attributed to these small artefacts also shows how these further contributed to the construction of their overall value among ancient users and to the continued appreciation by modern collectors.
The fourth part—old crafts for the future—closes the volume with a stimulating chapter by Will Wootton (13) on the potential of craft practice and object-based learning, like sculpture or mosaic making, in both modern education and academic research. The chapter also emphasises the therapeutic effects that making may have on people in certain contexts, particularly in mental health care.
On the whole, this book offers a variety of valuable contributions to our knowledge of the use, production and meaning of ancient material culture. It is especially noteworthy for dealing with previously neglected questions about how, why and, especially, by whom certain objects were made. By intertwining anthropological and sociological discussions, hands-on experience, and archaeological evidence, this volume certainly provides a fresh outlook on old crafts.
Authors and Titles
- Helle Hochscheid and Ben Russell, Introduction: New Approaches to Old Crafts
PART I: Communities of Making
- Ann Brysbaert and Helle Hochscheid, Craft, Ownership, and Identity: Making, Thinking, and Being (Together).
- Natacha Massar, Preparing for War: Craftspeople, Management, and Innovations.
- Beth Munro, Ancient Maker Spaces: The Value of Craft Communities in Multi-Material Workshops in Late Antiquity.
PART II: Craft Organization and Identity
- Ben Russell, Roman Stone Carvers and their chaine operatorie.
- Elizabeth A. Murray, Reconstructing Socio-Economic Work Practices between Industries: Cross-Industry Relations in Roman Italy.
- Danise van Hal and Helle Hochscheid, Reeds to Riches: The Crafts of Making Ancient Auloi.
- Mary Harlow, Spinning: The Invisible Profession.
Part III: Form, Function and Authenticity
- Gert Jan van Wijngaarden, Value and Exoticism: Cylinder Seals in the Late Bronze Age Aegean.
- Heide Frielinghaus, Assessing Value Attribution: The Evidence of Votive Offerings.
- Caroline Cheung, Precious Pots: Making and Repairing Dolia.
- Kenneth Lapatin, Greek and Roman Glyptic: alibi ars, alibi materia.
PART IV: Old Crafts for the Future
- Will Wootton, On the Value of Making and Learning.
Notes
[1] T. Ingold, 2010. ‘The Textility of Making’, Cambridge Journal of Economics 34: 91–102.
[2] The openness of this topic for alternative views with respect to traditional narratives is also exemplified by recent work on the Roman stone industry and sculpture, such as N. Toma 2020. Marmor – Maße – Monumente. Vorfertigung, Standardisierung und Massenproduktion marmorner Bauteile in der römischen Kaiserzeit (BMCR 2021.05.08) and J. Huskinson, 2015. Roman Strigillated Sarcophagi: Art and Social History (BMCR 2018.01.09). Similar conclusions on adaptations and variations within the stone-carving operational sequence can also be drawn from other, often neglected, categories of Roman sculpture, such as stone vases, on which see S. Perna, 2021. ‘A Case of Serial Production? Julio-Claudian “tureen” funerary urns in calcitic alabaster and other coloured stone’, in A. Reinhardt (ed.) Strictly Economic? Ancient Serial Production and its Premises: Panel 3.18, in M. Bentz and M. Heinzelmann (eds.) Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World. Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology. Heidelberg: 5–17 (available online).
[3] H. S. Becker, 2008. Art Worlds (2nd. ed.). University of California Press