ABSTRACT
The study of technology has held a central role within archaeology since its establishment as a scholarly discipline (Dobres 2009: 115). More recently, studies of material culture have shifted from descriptive approaches to more socially orientated ones, a move informed by wider theoretical trends (e.g. the interpretative paradigm) witnessed in archaeology in general. Drawing upon socially grounded theoretical approaches, technological studies have focused on the reconstruction of sequences of artefact manufacture and use, and have provided detailed understandings of the ways these were practised in particular social and cultural contexts. Despite this, ancient technologies tend to be studied in isolation, and the limited studies that have dealt with interactions between crafts have focused primarily on the material expressions of these interactions (e.g. the forms and decoration of artefacts, cf. Foster 1989; papers in McGovern et al. 1989) rather than the practice of technology. Yet, equal emphasis needs to be placed on the social aspects of the interactions and connections encapsulated in the production and consumption of material culture.
