The ceramic typology of Bagunte

Abstract

In its broadest sense this Master Thesis focuses on a question of far-reaching implications for economic anthropology and social archaeology: How does colonization affect patterns of indigenous production before and after imperial expansion, through the actions and agency of both local producers and colonizers? More specifically, this thesis will ask how the Roman Empire promoted or hindered local production of ceramics in northwestern Portugal after Roman expansion into Iberia. In its narrowest sense this thesis will develop an open-ended ceramic typology based on the ceramic materials from the Civitatis of Bagunte, a fortified hillfort settlement located on the northwestern coast of Portugal. This typology will use comparative materials from other hillfort settlements sites (castros) in northwestern Portugal to identify differences in form and function at different sites and possible patterns of exchange.