Workshops are archaeological sites, or parts of archaeological sites, where specialized crafts were practiced, whether pottery, glass, stone tools, or textiles. They are especially useful for understanding a range of behaviors, from what kind of tools people used to how people organized craft specialization.
Tekke Hoard - Greek Iron Age Hoard on Crete
The Tekke Hoard is a small cache of about 50 pieces of jewelry and jewelry fragments, found in the floor of an Iron Age tomb at Knossos on the island of Crete. Excavator John Boardman interpreted the Tekke hoard and the tomb as belonging to the family of a Syrian jeweler who had emigrated from Syria to Knossos in the late 9th century and established a gold workshop at Knossos.Tell Brak - Mesopotamian Site in Syria
Tell Brak is one of the largest Mesopotamian sites in Syria, located on a major trade route from the Tigris River to the Mediterranean Sea. A workshop of craft activities (flint working, basalt grinding, mollusc shell inlay) has been identified at Tell Brak.Deir el Medina - New Kingdom Egypt's Workman's Village
The village of Deir el Medina consisted of living quarters and workshops of the men who built and decorated Egyptian tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The town, first laid out under the Pharaoh Tuthmosis I (ca 1504-1492 BC), was used by the pyramid builders of most of the New Kingdom pharaohs (18th-20th Dynasties, 1550-1070 BC).
Nausharo - Indus Civilization Workshop
The small Harappan settlement of Nausharo is in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan, about six kilometers from the capital of Mehrgarh. The site includes a pottery workshop, which was apparently abruptly abandoned, for its artifact assemblage includes nearly an entirely complete pottery tool kit, including chipped stone blades, kiln wasters and unfinished pottery.Torcello - Glass-Making Workshops in the Venetian Lagoon
Photo by Mary Harrsch
Torcello is the name of an island in the Venetian lagoon. Archaeological evidence suggests that Torcello was occupied by the Romans at least by the first century AD. Evidence for glass-working activities, in the form of crucibles, flat glass, glass waste, vessels and sherds, and tesserae from mosaics, have been consistently found in levels dated between 7th and the 13th centuries, suggesting a long-established workshop.
Workshop of Pheidias at Olympia
The site of Olympia is a pan-hellenic sanctuary in Greece. Within its architectural remnants is the "Workshop of Pheidias". Pausanias the Traveler reported that it was there at Olympia where Pheidias built a gold and ivory statue of Zeus, and evidence from the archaeological excavations supports that claim.
A Glass Making Workshop for the Pharaoh Ramses I
Science (c) 2005
Piramesses was the capital for the 19th Dynasty New Kingdom pharaoh, Ramesses II, also known as Ramses the Great, whose form and figure graces Abu Simbel. A glass workshop at Piramesses dates between 1250 and 1200 BC, during the mid part of Ramesses’ 67 year reign (1279-1212 BC).
What is Craft Specialization?
Craft specialization is the study of how emerging societies create the opportunity for people to specialize, to learn a specific ability not available in the general population, and to build craft guilds and workshops.
