Reconsidering Technological Choices, the Transmission of Knowledge and the Role of Mobility in Shaping Local Pottery Production Traditions in the Later 1st Millennium BC on the Eastern Adriatic

The Iron Age, especially its final centuries, was without doubt a time of profound changes within the communities of the eastern Adriatic, mainly due to shifts within the cultural and political geography of the area, often interpreted through scant and ambiguous historical sources. Nevertheless, varied social processes, induced by increased connectivity and appropriation, are starting to be evidenced, shedding light on the ways in which locals and newcomers adapted to and exploited these newly generated cultural landscapes and the kinds of mobility and local interactions they engaged in. The organization of autochthonous communities during this time is not well understood due to a lack of archaeological knowledge. Most of the data available comes from funerary contexts, which makes it difficult to interpret developments within a broader social framework. However, analyzing certain objects and their related practices through different theoretical models can help us to understand different social implications that arise when a more current, relational methodology is applied. Pottery of the later 1st millennium BC on the eastern Adriatic will be used here as a case study, with the aim to deconstruct aspects of its production by observing its technical features and understanding, through them, the social organization behind the technological choices of both autochthonous and colonial societies. In this way, pottery production will be employed to shed light on the interaction of the various eastern Adriatic communities within the last centuries BC, ending with the set up of Roman pottery workshops during the period of late 1st century BC – early 1st century AD.