Trixi Steil

My dissertation project focuses on a terracotta workshop from the Roman Imperial period (2nd–3rd centuries CE) in Gerasa, now known as Jerash in Jordan. Beginning in the 2nd century CE, Gerasa experienced a period of intense economic and cultural flourishing, reflected in its urban expansion and its rich material culture. The workshop, known as the Cave Workshop, is the only terracotta workshop in Transjordan that has been archaeologically documented to date. Since its discovery and excavation in 1933 and its first publication in 1944, it has been regarded as a key site for the study of terracotta production in the region; however, it has neither been fully investigated nor systematically published.

Initial investigations of the terracotta figurines from the Cave Workshop as part of my master’s thesis in 2025 have shown that the collection of finds constitutes a heterogeneous group exhibiting a wide range of iconographic types and stylistic parallels. It includes classical Greek, Roman, and locally influenced motifs, which point to a complex interaction of visual traditions.

The aim of this work is to analyze the entire collection of the Cave Workshop—consisting of terracotta figurines, lamps, masks, and appliqués—from iconographic and technical-production perspectives. The concept of the chaîne opératoire is employed to document the manufacturing processes of the Cave Workshop. This allows the workshop’s production processes to be reconstructed based on the material properties and traces of working on the terracottas and lamps. Furthermore, questions regarding cultural exchange processes and economic contexts are examined by comparing the workshop’s products with finds from other workshops in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Finally, the function and use of the terracotta objects and lamps are analyzed through their integration into the urban and social context of the city of Gerasa.

Based on these questions, the study examines the extent to which the local production site was part of a supraregional koiné in which economic relations, the transfer of knowledge, and the iconographic repertoire of the Eastern Mediterranean region intersected.