12th Congress Aiecm3 on Medieval and Modern Period Mediterranean Ceramics

The two volumes, result of the fruitful collaboration between our two Institutions, present through 107 papers the latest research in the field of Medieval and Modern period Mediterranean Pottery. The keynote lecture offers a synthesis of the progress realized in the past twenty years on glazed ceramics, not only in a scientific but also in a practical and social level. The articles are not limited to the presentation of typology and new excavation material, but they proceed mainly with a more holistic view of pottery studies and try out synthetic approaches. Organized in five thematic areas, they travel us from Portugal to Northern Russia, from Algeria to Palestine, for a period covering not less than fifteen centuries (from the 6th century AD to 1988). They deal with issues of typological evolution, distribution and trade, ideological and political changes reflected on pottery, fabrics and firing technologies, new methods of analysis and dating, new online tools; they also present older or new, unpublished excavations and impressive shipwrecks. Reading these volumes, one realizes the important progress that our community of pottery specialists has made in recent years, towards a more substantial, more dynamic presence in all places and all times from the early Middle Ages to the Modern period.