The chronicle of the first ten years of our Association has been comipiled by our colleague Eleni Zimi being the chair of the Association at its 10th anniversary in 2021. Thereafter she completed it until 2023, when her term finished.

2011-2013

The vision of our colleague Zoi Kotitsa to create a new scientific niche for the promotion of the study of the pottery of the Hellenistic period and a forum where scholars and students from all over the world would meet up and exchange ideas on this discipline, inspired the creation of our Association ten years ago. The founding members understood IARPotHP as a permanent and complementary organization to the International Scientific Meetings held in Greece by Stella Drougou, et al. The International Association for Research on Pottery of the Hellenistic period (IARPotHP) was founded in Würzburg/Germany in the fall of 2011 by a group of seven archaeologists who also served on the first board:

Patricia Kögler (chair), Pia Guldager Bilde (secretary) Andrea Berlin (editor), Zoi Kotitsa (treasurer) and Annette Peignard-Giros, John Lund and Guy Ackermann (representing the doctoral students), as ordinary members, from six countries (Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Switzerland, USA). The Board selected Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom as the auditor later, before the first General Assembly.

IARPotHP is an independent, non-profit organization.

A first action of the new Association was to create a website presenting its profile and aims. The site has been designed by Dominik Markota under the supervision of Zoi Kotitsa who serves since then as webmaster.

The early steps of IARPotHP and the preparations for the first international conference entitled “Traditions and Innovations. Tracking the Development of Pottery from the Late Classical to the Early Imperial Periods” which took place in Berlin in 7-10 November 2013, were overshadowed by the untimely death of Pia Guldager Bilde earlier in that year. Subsequently, Sarah Japp was appointed to the board to fill the position of secretary, essential for the final arrangements for the conference. The goal of the first conference was to stimulate new ways of viewing ceramic finds, moving beyond ‘production and technical aspects’, and designate their role as ‘indicators of complex social processes and changes’.
More than 70 scholars from 22 countries were welcomed in Berlin and made the first conference a complete success! The following institutions and people were instrumental in the implementation of the conference:
• Staatliche Museen zu Berlin SMPK and their General Director, Michael Eissenhauer for the allocation of rooms in the Bode Museum and the Kulturforum.
• Bernd Rottenburg for the planning of the conference course.
• Stefan Gross, JOY Event Service for the technical support.
• The Excellence Cluster Topoi of the Free University of Berlin and Johanna Fabricius for providing the facilities to hold the first General Meeting of IARPotHP.
• The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for financial support.

The Proceedings of the conference in Berlin were the first volume in a new series by the International Association for Research on Pottery of the Hellenistic Period e.V. It was published by Phoibos Verlag (Wien, Austria) in 2016 and edited by the conference organizers Sarah Japp and Patricia Kögler.

2013-2015

During the first General Assembly in Berlin (9/11/2013), a new board for 2013-2015 was elected:
Zoi Kotitsa (chair), Christiane Römer-Strehl (secretary), Wolf Rudolph (treasurer), Andrea Berlin(editor) and Annette Peignard-Giros, John Lund, Guy Ackermann (representing the doctoral students) as ordinary members. Renate Rosenthal-Heginbottom was elected as the auditor and Mark Lawall as the trusted person, a necessary position for the compliance and assurance of good scientific practice in the Association, in accordance with the recommendations of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

During this term, the logo, and the corporate identity of IARPotHP was designed, and the cooperation with the Phoibos Verlag (Wien, Austria) for the printing of the proceedings was established. Helen Reinhard, a student of Archaeology at the Universuty of Marburg, has substantially worked for the desin of the logo under the supervision of Zoi Kotitsa. Moreover, a forum operating through IARPotHP’s website, to support and stimulate the communication between the members of the Association was set up. The forum was eventually cancelled following a decision in the General Assembly of IARPotHP in Kaštela (2017), since it did not find the anticipated response among the IARPotHP’s members.

The second conference “Daily life in a Cosmopolitan World: Pottery and Culture during the Hellenistic Period”, was organized by Annette Peignard-Giros, Zoi Kotitsa and Christiane Römer-Strehl, and took place in Université Lumière Lyon 2, between the 5th and 8th of November 2015. Its aim was to approach local pottery from various sites by taking into consideration the nature of the deposits (houses, graves, shipwrecks etc.) and, subsequently, to interpret the data in a regional and international context showcasing patterns of consumption and levels of cultural interactions. Over 50 scholars from several countries contributed with their papers and posters to the successful outcome of the Lyon conference. The research team HiSoMA (UMR 5189 – Lyon) offered generous support with hosting and organising the conference, as well as with printing the volume of the
proceedings with Phoibos Verlag (Wien 2019), which was edited by Annette Peignard-Giros. Further financial support was provided to the conference by the Commerzbank due to the chair´s, Zoi Kotitsa´s, efforts.

In the General Assembly of IARPotHP in Lyon (6/11/2015), a new paragraph about the protection of cultural property was decided to be added to the constitution (§ 22). According to this article, the members of IARPotHP “agree to comply with the UNESCO-Convention of 1970 and the UNIDROITConvention of 1995, and to avoid conveying any purchase of antiquities, to give oral or written expertise to collectors and dealers of antiquities, to recommend or to represent dealers of antiquities”. During the General Assembly and following Zoi Kotitsa’s proposal, Professor emerita Stella Drougou from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who is the ‘heart’ of the International Scientific Meetings on the Hellenistic Pottery organised in Greece since 1986, was voted an honorary member of IARPotHP.

2015-2017

During the General Assembly in Lyon (6/11/2015), the members elected a new board for the years 2015-2017 as follows: Ewdoksia Papuci-Wladyka (chair), Sarah James (secretary), Christiane Römer-Strehl (treasurer), Annette Peignard-Giros (editor), Marina Ugarković, Raffaella Da Vela, and Alexandros Laftsidis (representing the doctoral students) as ordinary members. Bärbel Ruhl was elected as the auditor and Susan Rotroff as the trusted person.

The third conference entitled “Exploring the Neighborhood. The Role of Ceramics in Understanding Place in the Hellenistic World” was held in Kaštela (Croatia) and hosted in the Museum of Town Kaštela between the 1st and 4th of June 2017. The conference explored how ceramic types and their distributions over a wide geographical area in the Hellenistic era can reveal the behaviour and movement of those who created and/or consumed them. Interdisciplinary methodology based on the application of scientific techniques on pottery studies shed further light into the creation of types which either retained or melded with local traditions into unique regional forms within the Hellenistic koine. The following people and institutions offered their support to hold and finance a very fruitful conference:
• Ivanka Kamenjarin of the Kaštela Town Museum
• Marina Ugarković of the Institute of Archaeology in Zagreb
• The Director of the Kaštela Museum
• The Director of the Institute of Archaeology in Zagreb
• The Croatian Science Foundation
• RED project: Roman Economy in Dalmatia: Production, Distribution and Demand in the Light of Pottery Workshops IP-11-2013-3973.

More than 120 scholars from 22 countries and 4 continents were welcomed and presented 73 lectures and 19 posters. The Proceedings of this conference were published at the end of 2020 by Phoibos Verlag (Wien) and were edited by Ivanka Kamenjarin and Marina Ugarković. Generous grants from the University of Colorado Boulder (Kayden Research Grant) and CERAMICA-Stiftung Basel, as well as private donations supported the printing of this volume. During the General Assembly of IARPotHP in Kaštela (2/6/2017), Dr. John W. Hayes, one of the most distinguished scholars in the field of Hellenistic and Roman ceramics, was elected as an honorary member of IARPotHP.

2017-2019

Following the chair’s, Ewdoksia Papuci-Wladyka’s, proposal, in the General Assembly of IARPotHP in Kaštela (2/6/2017), the members voted for the Board to remain in their positions for another two year term. Thus, the fourth Board was comprised as follows:
Ewdoksia Papuci-Wladyka (chair), Sarah James (secretary), Christiane Römer-Strehl (treasurer), Annette Peignard-Giros (editor), Marina Ugarković, Raffaella Da Vela, and Alexandros Laftsidis as ordinary members. Susan Rotroff was re-elected as the trusted person and Gabrielle Puschnigg became the new auditor.

The fourth conference “Manufacturers and Markets: The contribution of Hellenistic pottery to economies large and small” was held in Athens, organised and financed by the Austrian Archaeological Institute in Athens, in particular Marina Ugarković, Alice Waldner, and Laura Rembart, and hosted in the Institute of Historical Research at the National Research Foundation (Athens), between November 11th and 14th 2019. The following four topics were explored:
• Ceramic manufacturers and their workshops from East to West
• Aegean networks
• Local economies in the light of regional connectivity and identities
• Defining a market. Widespread distribution of goods as ‘globalised’ markets?

More than 110 scholars from 20 countries presented their research in Athens during a most productive conference.

The Proceedings of this Conference were published 2022 by Phoibos Verlag. The publication of the volume was facilitated by a grant obtained from CERAMICA Stiftung in Basel (Switzerland).

2019-2021

During the General Assembly in Athens (6/11/2019), the members elected a new board for the years 2019-2021 as follows:
Eleni Zimi (chair), Alexandros Laftsidis (secretary), Marina Ugarković (treasurer), Sarah James (editor). Ordinary Board Members: Francisco José García Fernández, Guy Ackermann, and Francesca Tomei (representing the doctoral students). Susan Rotroff was re-elected as the trusted person and Gabrielle Puschnigg remained at the auditor´s position. Following the resignation of the elected treasurer, Raffaella Da Vela, in June 2020, the Board selected Marina Ugarković to fill this position.

Since December 2020, IARPotHP is featuring on FaceBook. This Board acknowledges that IARPotHP’s Facebook page can be used as an additional venue in support of a) the wider diffusion of developments concerning the Association, b) the promotion of its goals, and c) the communication of news on Hellenistic pottery and related topics. Francesca Tomei is the creator and moderator of IARPotHP’s FaceBook page.

Reacting to the restrictions of our opportunities for scholarly interaction due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, and benefiting from the available online tools and services, the Board of IARPotHP organised a series of three webinars from February to May 2021. Senior members of our Association and younger scholars were encouraged to present a topic of their preference. The University of Colorado Boulder hosted IARPotHP’s webinars through the online platform ‘Zoom’, and the editor of the Association, Sarah James was the convenor of the series. The programme of the webinars included the following talks:
• Susan I. Rotroff, Washington University, St. Louis: On the trail of the Tritones: Megara and the Megarian Bowl (February 24th).
• Presentation of recent publications of IARPotHP and its members: 1. Ivanka Kamenjarin, Marina Ugarković (eds), Exploring the Neighbourhood: The role of ceramics in understanding place in the Hellenistic world. 3rd Conference of the International Association for Research on Pottery of the Hellenistic Period (IARPotHP). Kaštela-Croatia, 1st-4th of June 2017, Phoibos Verlag, Vienna 2020. 2. Guy Ackermann, La céramique d’époque hellénistique. Une chrono-typologie au service de l’histoire d’une ville grecque entre la fin du IVe et le Ier siècle av. J.-C., ERETRIA XXIV, 2020 (April 6th).
• Maja Miše, UCL Institute of Archaeology: Archaeometric approach to the production and circulation of Hellenistic fine table ware in Central Dalmatia, Croatia (May 4th).

The data gathered from the webinars demonstrated that IARPotHP’s footprint became more visible to a wider audience and the Association significantly contributed to the academic discourse and the diffusion of knowledge on Hellenistic pottery through this alternative way of communication with the scholarly community.

The fifth conference of IARPotHP entitled “From East to West and back again: Societies, Economies and Ceramics in the Hellenistic world”, has been hosted and sponsored by the Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología of the Universidad de Sevilla, in Seville, Spain, between 22nd and 25th of June 2021. It is organized by Antonio Manuel Sáez Romero and Francisco José García Fernández. The conference benefited from the support of the following institutions:
• Centro Iberia Graeca
• Instituto de Arqueología de Mérida – CSIC
• Museo Arqueológico-Paleontológico (La Rinconada, Seville).
In addition, the conference is part of the activities promoted by the following projects:
• GREPURE: Grecia Púnica Redescubierta. Análisis histórico-arqueológico y sistematización
online de la presencia fenicio-púnica en el Egeo antiguo (Fundación BBVA – US)
• Ergasteria. Arqueología experimental y virtual para el estudio de los procesos de producción
anfórica y comercialización en la Protohistoria (Proyectos I+D+i FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020,
US-1266376)
• Tarteso Olvidado (en los Museos) (PGC2018-097131-B-I00).

Due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic on gatherings and travel, this conference was held online – the posters in the form of videos were available online for the duration of the conference.
The following topics were explored:
• Long-distance Trade Networks and Local Markets
• The Attic Legacy: Regional Development of Fine Ware Production
• Amphorae, Stamps, Tituli Picti and Graffiti: from Kiln Sites to Marketplaces
• Cuisine, Kitchens and Cooking Wares
• “Romanizing” the “Hellenized” Mediterranean? Evidence for Changing Tastes in the Late Hellenistic Period.

A very welcomed new addition to the programme of the 5th conference is the introduction of the two specialised panels:
• Panel 1: Reconsidering Delos as a fixed point for the 1st century BC pottery of the Eastern Mediterranean
• Panel 2: Macedonia: A ‘Powerhouse’ in the study of Hellenistic pottery in Greece.

86 scholars from 24 countries presented their papers/posters and participated in the lively discussions at the end of each session. The editing of the Proceedings of this conference is in progress.

2021-2023

During the online General Assembly in Seville, Spain, (25/6/2021), elections did not take place. Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020), new regulations were introduced in the German law which allowed the existing Board to serve for an additional term (6/2021-10/2023). Following the constitution of IARpotHP, members were consulted on this issue and did not have any objections. Hence, the members of the Board maintained their positions:

Eleni Zimi (chairperson), Alexandros Laftsidis (secretary), Marina Ugarković (treasurer), Sarah James (editor). Ordinary Board Members: Francisco José García Fernández, Guy Ackermann, and Francesca Tomei (representing the doctoral students).

The Board organised on 10/3/2023 one webinar during which Prof. Eleni Hasaki, discussed her recent book entitled: The Penteskouphia Pinakes of Potters at Work. Practices and Prayers in Craft Communities. Dr. Alexandros Laftsidis, the secretary of IARPotHP, was the convenor. The data gathered from the webinar demonstrated that IARPotHP reaches a wider scholarly community since most of the attendees (c. 30) were not IARPotHP members.

The 6th conference of IARPotHP was entitled: New theories and methods for old pottery: innovating perspectives on Hellenistic ceramics. Organised by Professor Daniele Malfitana, Professor Jeroen Poblome, Dr John Lund and Dr Antonino Mazzaglia, it was hosted by the Department of Humanities & School of Advanced Study on Classical Archaeology, University of Catania (Catania, Sicily) and the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi in Syracuse, between 9^th and 12^th of October 2023.

The conference benefited from the support of the following institutions:

• Università di Catania. Scienze Umanistiche. Scuola di Specializzazione in Beni archeologici
• Consiglio Nazionale dell Ricerche (Italia)
• Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale

The following topics were exploredin the 6th conference:

• Theoretical approaches and study methods in current research and studies on Hellenistic pottery.
• From Sicily to broader Mediterranean: interpretative approaches to ceramic assemblages.
• Relationships between production centres in the Mediterranean basin: convergences and divergences.
• Using archaeometry to address historical questions starting from historical questions.

94 scholars from 20 countries presented their papers/posters and participated in the lively discussions at the end of each session.

During the General Assembly in Catania, Sicily, (11/10/2023), the members of IARPotHP elected a new board for the years 2023-2025 as follows:

Dr. Vasilica Lungu (chairperson), Dr. Guy Ackermann (secretary), Dr. Zoi Kotitsa (treasurer), Dr. Alexandros Laftsidis (editor). Ordinary Members: Dr. Edyta Marzec, Dr. Natacha Massar, Kamila Niziołek(responsible for interested undergraduate and graduate students). John Lund was elected as the trusted person and Sarah James as the auditor.