Organised by Professor Achim Lichtenberger (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster), Assistant Professor Heike Möller (Aarhus Universitet) and Professor Rubina Raja (Aarhus Universitet).

Joint workshop between the Danish National Research Foundation's Centre of Excellence for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), the Danish-German Jerash Northwest-Quarter Project and Ceramics in Context (funded by the Carlsberg Foundation).

Date           Wednesday, 1 March 2017

Time           10:30-19:30

Location      Copenhagen, The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters

Within the framework of the Danish-German Northwest Quarter Project and the research project Ceramics in Context a series of conferences are organized focusing on the pottery of Gerasa and the broader region. The third conference will take place on 1st March 2017 and will focus exclusively on the Roman period pottery.
Studies of finds from Gerasa have a long tradition and several publications have been undertaken. However, most of these focus on late Byzantine and Early Islamic finds, while publications on the Roman period material are rather rare.

This one-day conference will focus on the less well published Roman period pottery from Gerasa, which was a high scale production centre of pottery at that time, to look at similarities and differences concerning chronological and typological queries in Gerasa itself, but also in comparison to other sites. An examination of undisturbed Roman contexts will be of central importance in order to achieve good results and get crucial information not only considering the chrono-typological aspects, but also changing production techniques and shifts in chronological developments of certain types from one site to the other. Did Jerash as a “mass”-production centre of pottery has an impact on other sites production and vice-versa, how far is the influence from “outside”?

The analyses of these closed contexts will feed into discussions about the broader regional understanding of the pottery from Gerasa in regards to the development of shapes (different influences/self-development) and changes in fabrics (different clay sources/manufacturing processes). Central questions to be addressed in this conference include: Do we see regional patterns? In which ways, if at all, do Roman imports have an impact on the local production? Of which nature was such an impact? Does the Roman pottery influence the post-Roman pottery concerning types and fabrics? Can we discern immediate changes in the transmission-phase from Roman to Byzantine times?

Intra-regional trade patterns will also be discussed in an interdisciplinary approach by employing archaeometrical analyses. In this connection the question whether we can trace an exchange of pottery products on a regional basis, locate the different production areas and embed the sites into network systems is also of central concern.
The one-day conference will offer international experts an opportunity to discuss these questions to get a fuller understanding of pottery, production patterns and interactions in Gerasa and the surrounding regions.

• Lisa Berger (Universität zu Köln)/Bernd Liesen (Archäologischer Park Xanten)
• Malogorzata Daszkiewicz (Freie Universität Berlin)
• Georg Kalaitzoglou (Ruhr-Universität Bochum)
• Achim Lichtenberger Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster) (Organizer)
• Heike Möller (Aarhus University) (Organizer)
• Elizabeth Osinga (University of Southampton)
• Stephen Merkel/Michael Prange (Bergbaumuseum Bochum)
• Rubina Raja (Aarhus University) (Organizer)
• Gerwulf Schneider (Freie Universität Berlin)
• Anne-Michèle Rasson-Seigne/Jacques Seigne (Université François-Rabelais Tours)

Travel

Please make your own travel arrangements to/from Copenhagen. After your visit, your travel expenses will be reimbursed (only economy class). Please fill out this travel reimbursement form and return it (preferably in Excel-format) to Christina Levisen (levisen@cas.au.dk) or Heike Möller (Heike.Moeller@cas.au.dk) along with copies of your receipts and boarding passes (scanned copies are fine).

Accommodation

The hotel is already booked by us for two nights (28.02.-2.3.2017).

Dinner and diet

A speakers’ dinner will be organised for 1st of March at 20:00, and of course, we will cater for you during the workshop. If you have any dietary restrictions (e.g. allergies), please let Christina Levisen (levisen@cas.au.dk) or Heike Möller (Heike.Moeller@cas.au.dk) know as soon as possible.

Powerpoint

If you wish to use powerpoint, we would very much appreciate it if you could forward your slides by Monday 27 February 2017.