Late Roman ceramics from the Panayia Field, Corinth (late 4th to 7th C.) : the long-distance, regional and local wares in their economic, social and historical contexts

This dissertation presents the Late Roman (late 4th- to 7th-century) ceramic material from the archaeological excavations of the Panayia Field (Corinth, Greece). Through careful analysis of the ceramic fabrics, including petrographic analysis, all of the major wares from the site are characterized, and the mechanisms and networks responsible for each ware's distribution are reconstructed. A major contribution of this study is the equal attention paid to local and regional wares alongside the better-understood long-distance imports. A typological presentation of the ceramic forms documents the range of vessels manufactured in each ware with a consideration of what their presence or absence reveals about activities practiced on or near the site. Additionally, comparison with assemblages from other regional sites illustrates that similar relationships with long-distance, regional, and local networks existed elsewhere. This study concludes with the application of these results to broader issues of economic, social, and historic significance. It explores Corinth's relationship with regional ceramic workshops (the ceramic koine) and argues that a context of economic stability (not decline) was responsible for the intensification of local production and regional networks. Finally, it examines how the study of these ceramics and the various networks that distributed them contributes to the understanding of the history of Corinth and the northeastern Peloponnese at the end of antiquity