Routine and innovation: risk management in Iberian ceramic production during the Late Iron Age
Résumé
The name Iberian refers to a heterogeneous group of populations living along the Mediterranean coast of actual Spain during the first millennium BC. The aim of this study is to understand the technological features of Iron Age Iberia, by focusing on Iberian ceramic firing practices. Detailed investigation were conducted on the potter workshop of the Mas de Moreno (Foz-Calanda, Teruel, Spain; 3rd-1st centuries BC). The overall complexity of the production process was evaluated by the examination of the variety of defects and failures within ceramic materials from the workshop, and by chemical and mineralogical analysis (WDXRF, XRD, petrography).
The standardization of Iberian ceramic has often been seen as the result of a productive routine (repetition of know-how ensuring successful operations). Thus any change in this routine would likely be associated with a potential failure of firing and the stability of the chaine opératoire would be the result of a conservative mind. On the contrary, thermal details of ceramic firing and peculiar properties of the used clayey material enabled us to propose a hypothesis on the production risk management in an Iberian workshop. It appears that the acceptance of risk was a driving force for innovation, allowing for a gradual and steady evolution of the firing practices and the adoption of new technologies during the first century BC.