We encourage the sharing of knowledge.
Every two years the IARPotHP holds a major conference giving space for scientific dialogue and the Association’s General Assemblies.
From 2011 to 2025 seven conferences have been organized.
The volumes with the proceedings of the first five conferences are already published by Phoibos Verlag.
Please make your order directly to the publisher.
SECOND CONFERENCE of IARPotHP (IARPotHP 2):
Lyon 2015, November 5th – 8th
THIRD CONFERENCE of
IARPotHP (IARPotHP 3):
Kaštela/Croatia 2017, June 1st – 4th
FIFTH CONFERENCE of
IARPotHP (IARPotHP 5):
Seville 2021, June 22nd – 25th
The sixth conference of IARPotHP (IARPotHP 6) took place in Catania and Syracuse in 2023, October 9th-12th. The subject of the conference was:
NEW THEORIES AND METHODS FOR OLD POTTERY:
INNOVATING PERSPECTIVES ON HELLENISTIC CERAMICS
The aim of the 6th IARPotHP conference was to present the most up-to-date interpretative approaches to the study of the complex phenomena linked to the production of everyday artefacts used in Hellenistic times; to disassociate the study of these productions from the traditional practice of merely cataloguing items and to articulate, instead, clearer and more satisfying answers to the questions archaeologists nowadays pose to objects of material culture.
The topics of the Conference were:
1. Theoretical approaches and study methods in current research and studies on Hellenistic pottery
2. From Sicily to broader Mediterranean: interpretative approaches to ceramic assemblages
3. Relationships between production centers in the Mediterranean basin: convergences and divergences
4. Using archaeometry to address historical questions starting from historical question
For the programm of IARPotHP 6, click here.
The publication of the proceedings is in press.
The seventh conference of IARPotHP (IARPotHP 7) took place
6th-9th of October 2025 in Brussels under the title:
HELLENISTIC POTTERY IN CONTEXT:
A WORLD OF DYNAMIC INTERACTIONS
BETWEEN PEOPLE AND POTTERY
The goal of the conference was to bring together researchers working all around the Mediterranean and adjacent areas in order to discuss the “contexts” of pottery in the Hellenistic period. Through their rigorous examination light was shed to the particularly complex and ever-evolving cultural reality/identities in the globalized world of the period.
Topics of the conference:
- Production contexts
- Contexts of use
- Regional interactions and identities
- Ceramic and scientific intersections in a digital era
For the programm of IARPotHP 7, click here. See also the book of abstracts.
For posters presented in the conference click here.
The proceedings are currently being prepared for publication.
The eighth conference of IARPotHP (IARPotHP 8) will take place
22nd-25th of June 2027 in Constanţa/Romania under the title:
ECONOMIES AND SOCIAL HISTORIES FROM THE AGE OF ALEXANDER III TO MITHRIDATES VI (323–63 BC):
THE CONTRIBUTION OF HELLENISTIC POTTERY
The aim of this conference is to analyse from the perspective of the pottery the economic, social, and cultural transformations that accompanied the transition from a polycentric Hellenistic world, emerged from Alexander’s conquests, to an area progressively integrated under Roman rule . The multiplication of production centres, resulting from the breakup of political structures and the evolution of exchange networks, led to a diversification of technical and stylistic traditions, often accompanied by a degree of standardization or a decline in the quality of certain productions. This evolution calls for a reassessment of the very notion of Hellenistic pottery “koine”, traditionally understood as the expression of a relatively homogeneous material culture throughout the Hellenistic world.
The topics of the conference will be:
- The diffusion of shared ceramic models and production practices
- Administration, resource management, and the organization of production and networks in the new regions created after Alexander III
- Economic and social challenges in the Hellenistic production centers
- New esthetic values
- Ceramic production as a medium of royal propaganda
- Synchronizing regional chronologies and redefining historical transitions
- Ceramic and Scientific Intersections in a Digital Era
We strongly encourage participants to propose also panels, which could investigate a topic of their preference in a more detailed and thorough manner. Depending on the total number of presenters, participants in a panel may not be able to present a paper in any of the other sessions too.
The languages of the conference are – as in previous meetings – English, French, German, and Italian.
For those wishing to present a paper or a poster, as well as those interested in organizing a special panel, please send a completed registration form and a short abstract (max. 500 words) in English, French, German or Italian by December 31st, 2026, to: conf8@iarpothp.org
Early bird registration fee: The conference fee for non-IARPotHP members is 60€ due March 31st, 2027. For later payments, the conference fee will be raised to 80€. Payment details will be announced later.
For more details on the conference see our Call for Papers.