South Gaulish sigillata in Southwest Hispania: circulation and consumption

Abstract

Hispania: circulation and consumption, promoted by chairwomen Catarina Viegas and Macarena Bustamante, both UNIARQ highly credited researchers in the study of Roman ceramics.One might question the purpose of conducting a workshop on a single pottery category of the Roman era. Two keywords in the workshop's subtitle, circulation and consumption, sufficiently clarify any doubts.As Nino Lamboglia wrote in a small essay (one I particularly like to quote), the study of pottery can and should be seen in a complementary perspective: pottery as an end and pottery as a means. In this specific case, the correct identification and classification of pottery is an end, an important end, and the specific format of this workshop, on its second day, seeked to finetune the methods and techniques of classification, study, and recording. However, it is on this first day that we saw in which way pottery, namely this category, can (and should) be used as a means to know more about the Roman Empire and its inhabitants. The abovementioned keywords circulation and consumption naturally point to the domains of transportation / distribution / trading, and consumption habits. Thus, a single pottery category fully justifies the researchers' attention, and we shall see why this specific category deserves special attention in the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The study of terra sigillata in PortugalIn a short note published in the 3 rd volume of Zephyrus journal (1952) about terra sigillata studies in Portugal, Maluquer de Motes highlighted the increasing interest in the theme by Portuguese researchers. He mentioned the work of Russel Cortez and Bairrão Oleiro, the latter associated with the extensive presentation of the known panorama of potter's stamps on ts in Portugal, noting the pronounced prevalence of Gallic productions, especially the products of La Graufesenque; a reference that could not be absent in this workshop.Was there really an increasing interest in the study of ts in Portugal at that time? And a special focus on South Gaulish products? I do not think so.In fact, there were references to ts since the early days of Portuguese archaeology; Hübner's notes in CIL II and its respective supplementum, in the epigraphy section of instrumentum domesticum, mention how little it was known or valued.