FROM FABRIC GROUPS TO CLAY RECIPES: LINKING ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS AND CLAY STUDIES ACROSS THE <i>LEGIO X FRETENSIS</i> KILNWORKS, JERUSALEM

Summary The site of the Legio X Fretensis kilnworks at Jerusalem has provided a wealth of information about Roman‐period military craft production. In this article, we take a closer look at a particular set of work processes documented at the site – those involving the selection, adaptation, and use of local clays. The Jerusalem site has yielded a rather spectacular range of clay evidence – including raw clays, unfired products, furnace linings, and finished ceramics – recovered in production contexts. Moreover, both the ancient investment in maintaining such elaborate clay processing at the legionary kilnworks and the recent academic attempts to attribute different clay recipes to specific communities (military versus civilian workshops) warrant a more detailed contextual analysis of the clay procurement and preparation processes. In doing so, it becomes apparent that clay processing at the site was highly innovative, drawing both on local traditional materials and developing new recipes, and that the supply of clays to different specialized workgroups relied on a complex coordination of materials and labour.