An Introduction to Late Antique Cross-Craft Studies

The study of crafts and trades in the ancient Mediterranean world has garnered increased attention over the last decade, including through the investigation of cross-craft or inter-industry relations among craft producers. This body of literature represents a range of distinct approaches – including co-production, cross-craft interaction, skeuomorphism, and multicraft – each derived from different disciplinary perspectives, yet collectively these inter-industry approaches are offering new and important perspectives on social and professional networks of artisans, technological developments, and economic organisation of ancient industries. In this introductory chapter, we outline the current trajectories in cross-craft studies and their too often overlooked significance for the study of Late Antiquity.