Project description
Taking a closer look at Greco-Roman stone vases
To this day, the technological accomplishments of the Ancient Greeks and Romans continue to fascinate us. People’s capacity to innovate is key to progress. One example lies in the technological upscaling of basic tools. In another, technology applied to crafts has altered the relationship between maker and material environment. The EU-funded TECHNET project will propose an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to the development of technology in ancient crafts using Greco-Roman stone vases as a case study. It will test the hypothesis that Greco-Roman stone vases have the potential to inform us on technological development, knowledge transfer and materiality practices in the Classical period. It will use a combination of ethno-anthropological and sociological qualitative analysis with computer-informed data processing.
Objective
Technology is one of the most transformative innovations of human kind: it has profoundly impacted economic, social and cultural history. Understanding humans’ capacity to innovate provides fundamental tools for the study of technological advance and human progress. Technology applied to crafts has radically changed the relationship between maker and matter, that is mankind’s ability to manipulate its material environment and transform it into useable objects for living.
Stone is the most challenging matter for craftsmen to process since it requires a complex series of technological choices and an articulate operational sequence. Consequently, stone vases, as objects made of stone, represent crucial analytical “tools” to investigate technological innovation in ancient crafts. Disclosing the processes and circumstances of transformative innovations in the ancient world helps us comprehend the mechanisms of modern technology and its role in shaping contemporary and future societies. Much ground-breaking research has shown that Protohistoric stone vessel production involved significant technological input and knowledge transfer, thus playing a key role in the development of Prehistoric Mediterranean craft traditions. Similar research for the Classical period is still lacking. With the TECHNET action I put forward an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to the development of technology in ancient crafts using Greco-Roman stone vases as case study.
My starting hypothesis is that Greco-Roman stone vases have the potential to inform us on technological development, knowledge transfer and materiality practices in the Classical period. I intend to test this hypothesis through the combination of ethno-anthropological and sociological qualitative analysis with computer informed data processing. Undertaking such a research at ICAC is set to offer novel scientific tools to the history of manufacturing technology and to bolster my scientific profile.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- humanitieshistory and archaeologyhistory
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata processing
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Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
43003 Tarragona
Spain