¿Dualidad étnica o heterogeneidad social? Un análisis de las cerámicas de uso cotidiano de la la Neápolis de Emporion

Abstract

This paper analyses the ceramic assemblages in several stratigraphic units from domestic contexts or dumps related to everyday activities in the Neápolis of Emporion, dating ca. 425 to 375 bc. The main aim of the study is to examine the domestic ceramic assemblages –kitchen ceramics, tableware and domestic storage– and to analyse them focusing on their manufacturing traditions and their use in daily practices. The results of this study show the existence of strong cultural entanglements. This invites us to reject traditional interpretations, largely based on written classical sources, that have argued for the occurrence of a strict dual division in the enclave along ethnic lines, with two neatly segregated communities that never overlapped in this urban landscape. This study argues against the simplistic use of material culture as an ethnic marker, emphasising instead the role of some daily-use objects in the construction of social distinction, as well as other social, intersectional identities that go beyond ethnicity.