Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2025

Central Authority, Local Practices: Labour and Production in Ur III Ceramic Workshop at Logardan, Iraqi Kurdistan

Résumé

Although written documentation from the Ur III period depicts a labour-intensive and highly centralised economic system, the organisation of everyday pottery production activities has long remained elusive in archaeological evidence. At the site of Logardan in Iraqi Kurdistan, the recent discovery of a large workshop with dozens of kilns excavated over several hundred square meters offers new insights into the organisation of this mundane craft. Located in a boundary zone between the empire’s northern edge and the Lullubum territory, this extensive production site featured working areas equipped with complex firing systems and a wide variety of tools used to manufacture ceramic material related to the Southern Mesopotamian koiné. The analysis of the production infrastructures and the spatial distribution of pottery types and techniques has been conducted as the first step towards a comprehensive understanding of the workshop’s internal operation and management. The preliminary results suggest that the Logardan workshop was integrated into the Ur III network under a coordinated hierarchy. Yet, the groups of potters operating there maintained significant autonomy in managing their daily tasks. By combining fresh archaeological evidence with textual sources, this paper reassesses labour organisation in Ur III ceramic production, adopting a bottom-up and fringe perspective. The Logardan case study, with its rare viewpoint from the empire’s margins, reveals the complex interplay between the central authority’s mechanisms and the local communities’ practices in one of the earliest examples of state-controlled economies.

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Dates et versions

hal-05155833 , version 1 (10-07-2025)

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  • HAL Id : hal-05155833 , version 1

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Claire Padovani, Melania Zingarello. Central Authority, Local Practices: Labour and Production in Ur III Ceramic Workshop at Logardan, Iraqi Kurdistan. 70th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Jul 2025, Prague, Czech Republic. ⟨hal-05155833⟩
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