IPAMAA's Machal Gradoz successfully defended her dissertation "Of Sherds and Stones: Transformation and Continuity in the Ceramic and Epigraphic Records of Late Hellenistic-Early Roman Epirus" on Monday, June 10th.
Machal's dissertation "examines local reactions to Roman hegemony in the region of ancient Epirus (northwest Greece/southwest Albania) in the late-Hellenistic-early Roman period (ca. 150 BCE-100 CE) through theoretically informed archaeological study of ceramics and inscriptions from sites across the region. By applying the concept of koine and social identity theory to ceramic and epigraphic evidence, her dissertation proposes a new framework with which to investigate social identity at the transition to Roman hegemony, or Romanization.
Distinguishing patterns in ceramic production and consumption by synthesizing the ceramic data from across the region, Machal identifies a ceramic koine specific to Epirus in the Hellenistic period that persists into the early Roman period, demonstrating continuity in the ceramic traditions of the region even against the backdrop of political, economic, and social transition. She also identifies how the epigraphic evidence shows transformation in naming practices and formulas, reflecting shifts in social identities, while also illustrating continuity in some aspects of social identity. Machal demonstrates that individuals and groups made diverse material choices, indicating complex social identities. In characterizing continuity and transformation in the data within a theoretical framework of koine and identity, she shows that, far from decline and homogeneity, Epirus continued much as it did in the centuries before Roman hegemony with some new cultural practices adopted at different rates in local communities."
Our very best wishes for your continuing success, Dr. Gradoz!
