Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SPotEU (Sugar Pot manufacture in western Europe in the medieval and post-medieval period (11th-16th centuries AD))
Berichtszeitraum: 2018-10-01 bis 2020-09-30
Even though nowadays the major part of the sugar from sugar cane is produced in central-south America, in medieval times the sugar industry had a great development in the Mediterranean. There, sugar production and consumption followed the Islamic expansion in the western Mediterranean and had a huge impact on European social, cultural, and economic development. The SPotEU project explores the development and impact of sugar production in Western Europe from the 11th to the 16th century AD from an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating archaeological and historical research with material science and material culture approaches. Sugar production required an ‘industrial organisation’ from its cultivation to its processing and knowledge transfer and new technological requirements linked with the production of sugar, from the construction of specific buildings to the manufacture of on-purpose objects. For these reasons, the impact that sugar production had on the formation of modern Europe has become one of the most discussed topics in literature. However, the crucial role that craftspeople had in the success of the process was only marginally tackled. The SPotEU project investigated how potters supplied the specific demands of the sugar industry. They were producing specialised vessels, a sugar cone mould and a molasses collecting jar, used for the crystallization of sugar. Little was known whether this specific ceramic production was occurring nearby sugar installations or vessels were imported from somewhere else; whether potters were applying their know-how or transformed it to produce such specialised vessels; whether common requirements, standards, for the manufacture of these sugar pots were circulating alongside with sugar in the western Mediterranean. This project focuses on the two main regions for sugar production in Western Europe in the 11th-16th centuries AD: modern Sicily and Spain. For this projects sites on the north coast of Sicily (Palermo, Himera and Partinico) and the eastern (Barcelona, Paterna, Gandia, Oliva) and southern (Motril and Granada) part of the Iberian peninsula were investigated. The project's objectives were: 1) to identify sugar pots production sites, reconstructing the exchange networks; 2) to understand the technological strategies adopted by potters in constructing this vessel type compared to other ceramic wares; 3) to investigate continuity and changes in sugar pot manufacture over the 11th-16th centuries in Sicily and Spain; 4) to compare sugar pots produced across the western and eastern Mediterranean regions. As a parallel goal, the fellowship seek to foster the fellow development and her reintegration into the academic system after having had a baby, and the knowledge transfer among researchers in Europe.
The project was carried out by the fellow between the host institution, Universitat de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain), and the secondment institution, National Center of Scientific Research Demokritos (Athens, Greece). 545 Sugar pots from 17 different sites in modern Sicily and Spain were studied in detail, measured, catalogued and the most representative individual (267) sampled for performing the analytical study to reach the objectives of the project. Sugar pots were studied by integrating chemical data, mineralogical and microstructural data with mascroscopic examination to investigate the provenance and technology of the vessels. In the case of Sicily, sugar pots were mostly produced nearby or within the sugar production premises. Nevertheless, our study revealed that sugar pots from Palermo reached also other areas, evidence missing from the written sources. The study of the materials in Spain revealed a more diversified panorama where sugar pots were produced nearby the sugar production area, as in the case of Motril and Gandia-Oliva; but also, they were made in distant sites such as the case of sugar cones from Paterna reaching Gandia and Barcelona. In addition, consumption centres such as Barcelona and Granada were also producing smaller cones for sugar refining. This revealed a much more complex picture of the sugar cycle in the Iberian Peninsula than previously thought and which needs further exploration. This study shows that how sugar pots were designed and manufactured followed some common features across phases and geographical areas, such as a similar design. Conversely, some technological characteristics were specific to each area. Thus, potters were applying a common idea when manufacturing sugar pots, but these were transformed locally according to each place's way of manufacturing ceramics.Part of the results have been published as an open-access paper and as 6 datasets, and at least two other publications are in preparation. The database including the archaeological, typological and morphometric information of the studied material will form part of the online database of the host institution and could be used for further research on sugar pots. Projects objectives and results were communicated at 8 international conferences, in 2 outreach events for schools, in public lectures and seminars, and continuously during fieldwork and through social media and email communications with the museums and institutions. In terms of training, the fellow: got the training needed to perform the analyses and publish the results in a peer-reviewed international paper; run the scientific and administrative part of the project, also maintaining the network of institutions and collaborators in 3 different countries; she benefitted from sharing different skills and experiences with the research teams at the host and secondment institutions creating new collaborations and more integrated practices; she learned two new languages (Spanish and Catalan); she taught at master courses and supervised 3 master thesis. The fellowship successfully served also the purpose of reintegration the fellow back into the academic environment after a parental leave as she got the qualification of lecturer from the ‘Agència per a la Qualitat del Sistema Universitari de Catalunya’ and she has gained a 3-years post-doc position at the UB starting immediately after the end of the fellowship.
This project shed light on aspects not previously considered regarding sugar production through the application of an interdisciplinary approach, bridging disciplines often considered separate, such as the study of written sources, archaeology and material science. For the first time, this archaeological investigation on sugar pots allowed us to integrate our knowledge from historical documents with archaeological sources to investigate craftspeople's mobility and knowledge transfer across the Mediterranean during medieval and post-medieval times. The results from this study have the potential to bridge studies on sugar and ceramics production in Europe and the Atlantic islands and the Americas. In terms of impact on society, the project explores the role of an everyday commodity, such as sugar, had in the formation of European culture and how local actors (merchants, craftspeople, entrepreneurs), transformed an external input into one of the more influential activities in the western Mediterranean. The case of sugar production in the Western Mediterranean shows that the combination of human mobility and local inputs created the basis for knowledge transfer and technological advancement in medieval Europe.