Working, Learning, and Living Environments: The View from Dolium Repairs

Work environments can have a great effect on how people work, collaborate, and learn. This paper uses dolium repairs from central Italy as a lens through which to study working and learning environments. Some dolium repairs were formed during the vessel’s production phase in multiproduct opus doliare workshops, where craftsmen were likely able to collaborate and learn from one another as they produced heavy terracotta products, such as dolia, bricks, tiles, amphorae, and mortaria. Dolia that cracked or suffered other damage during use, however, were too heavy and cumbersome to bring back to the workshop. Archaeological evidence of use-life repairs shows that there was a range of techniques and materials that craftsmen with different skillsets used to mend dolia. Repair techniques were often chosen based on the dolium’s damage, the craftsman’s skills, and the circumstances in which a craftsman worked. A craftsman commissioned to mend a dolium might not have been able to experiment with their work due to either anxiety that a new method might not work or a customer’s wishes. Lastly, the paper considers the realities of enslaved labor, especially agricultural workers. Although craftsmen’s environments could influence their work, their status and relationships also shape their working and living conditions.