Ceramics and coastal communities in medieval (12th-14th Century) Europe: negotiating identity in England's Channel ports

Using the example of pottery imported into the Channel ports of southern England, an approach to examining the role of pottery in the emergence and mediation of coastal communities is proposed. Building upon recent scholarship it is argued that it is no longer tenable to see pottery as a carrier of identity or as part of a ‘cultural package’, with meaning instead emerging with identity as people interact with pottery within and outside of port environments. The study proposes that imported pottery found meaning in different ways depending upon the context of acquisition and use and, as such, it mediated different forms of community and identity. The paper ends with a consideration of the wider implications of this approach for ongoing studies of material culture, trade and urban identities in medieval Europe