Roman and Late Antique Mediterranean Pottery Les ateliers de céramique la Byzacène du Sud Ouest

This work examines ceramic workshop dumps in southwest Byzacena (modern-day Tunisia), uncovering seven workshops over three decades. It distinguishes regional productions, analyzes products, and explores historical factors influencing these workshops' development and decline, revealing a spatial and chronological distribution of ceramic production. Les ateliers de céramique de la Byzacène du Sud-Ouest is the result of more than three decades of investigation, examining ceramic workshop dumps in the southwest region of Byzacena. Over this period, we have had the rare opportunity to uncover the remains of seven workshops, three of which are still unpublished. Our research unfolded in two main phases : the first focused on locating, identifying, and distinguishing between endogenous and exogenous production in the region, particularly the so-called “classic” types. During the second phase, our efforts shifted to detecting, exploring, and prospecting for new production centers, as well as on the typological, mineralogical, and petrographic analysis of the various products, aimed at disentangling regional production from one another and defining their distribution areas. The task was challenging, especially given the often-pronounced similarities in the clays used and the forms produced. Beyond this technical aspect, which includes body types, slips, shapes, typologies, motifs, and decorative styles, our research stands out for its diachronic approach. This approach reveals the historical factors—both economic and political—that contributed to the the appearance, development, and extinction of these workshops. Additionally, our study of the ceramic rejects from the eight workshops, the subject of this work, revealed a spatial distribution from east to west, with a designated catchment area for each production center and a categorical distribution of types. Chronologically, our findings revealed a synchronisation in the emergence and decline of these workshops and identifying a peak period of activity and production.