Extracting innovation: an integrated material and experimental analysis of early distillation technology and its characterisation in South-Central Asia

In considering the position of technology within contemporary society, the concept of ‘innovation’ is integral in the creation of national, regional, and global narratives. This thesis addresses how early distillation - the selective evaporation and condensation of mixed substances - has been identified from archaeological evidence in South-Central Asia and associated with dialogues on the ‘Hellenistic East’ that are tied to traditional views on the influence of ancient Greek cultural and scientific innovations. The emergence of distillation marks a changing understanding of material properties, encompassing ideas on extraction, purification, and essences, and historically connected to proto-chemical explorations of matter. Yet primarily, distillation has been researched through a distinctly technically-led framework of explanation and empiricism. This thesis, therefore, challenges the widespread reconstruction of the ‘Gandhāra still’ as a key component within global chartings of distillation technology, used intermittently to both indicate processes of Hellenisation in South-Central Asia, but also reject ancient Greek origins for early distillation. First noted as 4th c. BCE – 4th c. CE ceramic remains from modern-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, and northern India, the characterisation of the ‘Gandhāra still and tradition’ is comprehensively evaluated in this thesis following recent reappraisals through a systematic material survey and targeted exploratory experimental studies. Results demonstrate how the ‘Gandhāra tradition’ and its constituent components are unlikely interpretations, both archaeologically and functionally, exemplifying how cultural concepts underpinning a limited view of ‘innovation’ have influenced interpretations of regional change, material classifications, and site function. Instead, through a holistic approach to technology, the body of analysis developed in this thesis reconsiders the technical practices and processes of innovation in early distillation by utilising insights gained from the experimental work. In doing so, an alternative view on the original ‘Gandhāra still’ archaeological evidence in South-Central Asia is presented that is distanced from its entrenched connection with distillation.