Archaeology of craft and artisans in the Ottoman Empire: a case of ceramic production in Belgrade during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

This paper discusses an archaeology of ceramic craft and artisans in the sixteenth–seventeenth centuries Belgrade problematises its relation to historical models urban production Ottoman Empire. The study focuses on five common wares, representative Middle Danube region, found well-defined consumption contexts Belgrade’s intra extra muros settlements. technology these including bodies, slips, glazes, was studied with petrography chemical analysis, results were interpreted using chaîne opératoire conceptual framework. petrographic also used for a preliminary provenance determination raw materials. It is proposed that Monochrome Glazed Ware, Slip-Painted Domestic Unglazed Ware locally made following conquest 1521. emergence this coincides abrupt cultural change region marked by migrations new socio-economic conditions initiated Ottomans. Traits local are compared existing corpus knowledge craftsmanship guilds formulated historiography purpose developing cross-disciplinary approach crafts