ABSTRACT
Ceramics have now been considered as an economic document for several decades. Fine wares and amphorae are well studied and provide evidence for large-scale and well-organized trade systems. Comparatively, little attention has been given to common wares and cooking wares. These were often considered as locally produced and distributed, and, as a consequence, they were wrongly seen to have had little economic impact. Regarding late antique Syria, ceramic studies and their economic aspects are a relatively young field of interest. Unlike fine wares and amphorae, which are imported into Syria and whose circuits of exchange are well known, common wares and cooking wares remain to be examined in a perspective that goes beyond the typology. This paper will attempt to address this question by studying one of these utilitarian wares (the socalled Brittle Ware), combining a typological and technological approach. Our aim will be to demonstrate that these productions show complex and strong exchange networks, bringing new information to ceramic studies.
