Defining cultural boundaries on the Silk Road – a Sasanian pottery assemblage from North Eastern Iran

The dissertation investigates pottery from key Sasanian sites to reconstruct everyday life and commensal practices in the Late Antiquity. It presents unpublished material from northern Iran, expanding our limited knowledge of ceramic traditions in the region during the 1st millennium CE. Through functional typology, use-wear analysis, and contextual interpretation, the study demonstrates the varied and practical roles of ceramic vessels across four distinct social contexts: the rural settlement of Tappe Rivi, the city of Merv, the fortress of Qaleh Iraj, and the temple complex at Takht-e Suleiman. By shifting the focus to the microcosm of domestic life, these findings provide a counter-narrative to prevailing biases in Sasanian archaeology, which have tended to highlight the material culture of the elite.