Potters marks and social relations of ceramic distribution in the Oyo Empire

A recently collated inventory of potters' marks in the Oyo ceramic complex of southwestern Nigeria provides important insights into the social relations of ceramic production in the Oyo Empire during the Atlantic Age. Focusing on the serving and cooking bowls excavated in the imperial colony of Ede-Ile, this paper examines the formal and social aspects of potters' marks in the production and circulation of utilitarian vessels, as well as in the forging of an integrated and corporeal imperial identity from the early 1600s to the 1820s. The study draws attention to an important ceramic attribute that has, until now, gone unnoticed in the archaeology of Oyo Empire and in Yoruba Studies in general. It highlights the salience of potters marks for understanding the social, political and economic processes in Yorubaland during the mid-Atlantic age.