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XII/2/2021
INTERDISCIPLINARIA ARCHAEOLOGICA
NATURAL SCIENCES IN ARCHAEOLOGY
homepage: http://www.iansa.eu
A look at the region
The Tracing the Potter’s Wheel Project (TPW): An Integrated Archaeological
Investigation of the Potter’s Wheel in the Bronze Age Aegean
Jill Hilditch
1*
, Caroline Jefra
1
, Loes Opgenhafen
1
1
ACASA – Archaeology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Amsterdam, PO Box 94203, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1. Introduction
The Tracing the Potter’s Wheel (TPW) project is designed
to identify and assess the appearance of the potter’s wheel
as a technological innovation within the Bronze Age Aegean
(2500–1200 BC). The project is funded in the form of an
NWO-Vidi grant (2016–2021: PI, J. Hilditch) and hosted by
the University of Amsterdam (UvA) within the Amsterdam
Centre for Ancient Studies and Archaeology (ACASA) of the
Faculty of Humanities. The project uses the potter’s wheel
as a prism through which to investigate the transmission of
craft knowledge and consider the ways Aegean (potting)
communities were confgured and connected through time.
Through sustained archaeological investigation and the
creation of fne-grained chronological sequences, the Bronze
Age Aegean ofers a valuable arena for assessing the dynamics
behind past cultural encounters and interaction networks. A key
TPW objective is to better understand the interactions that
facilitated the transmission of the potter’s wheel in this region.
Identifying the use of the potter’s wheel within a ceramic
assemblage is only the start of the process for reconstructing
the interactions through which this technology was adopted
and adapted. To assess whether the potter’s wheel was used
by local potters, rather than merely appearing as imported
wheel-made pots, all vessels with wheel traces must be
situated within the local ceramic production sequence or
chaîne opératoire
, both compositionally and technologically.
The method of wheel use is also important for assessing
transmission of technical knowledge, as wheel-coiling
(or wheel-fnishing) is distinct from the wheel-throwing
technique, requiring diferent physical gestures and technical
know-how. Indeed, the transition from wheel-coiling to
wheel-throwing remains a poorly understood and rarely
explored technological development generally. The scope of
these project research questions has driven the development
of resources for future work, including an open access archive
for compositional and technological features of wheel-
made ceramics (both experimental and archaeological).
Digital archiving strategies also play a key role, both for
visualising project research results and promoting public
engagement with technological approaches to material
culture. Following this strategy, the TPW archive has been
built to serve as a dynamic learning tool for specialists
and non-specialists alike. The integration of experimental,
Volume XII ● Issue 2/2021 ● Pages 345–355
*Corresponding author. E-mail: j.r.hilditch@uva.nl
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received: 13
th
February 2021
Accepted: 25
th
March 2021
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.17
Key words:
ceramic analysis
digital archaeology
experimental archaeology
open access reference collection
potting technology
3D visualisation
ABSTRACT
This backstory article discusses the work of the Tracing the Potter’s Wheel Project (TPW),
an integrated archaeological research project using the potter’s wheel as a prism through which to
investigate the transmission of craft knowledge in the Bronze Age Aegean. The TPW methodology
integrates theoretical perspectives on social interactions, technological processes and innovation, with
experimental, 3D digital and analytical methods for visualising and interpreting ceramics. Two central
goals have emerged: to provide high-quality resources and standardised guidelines for researchers to
learn how to technologically assess assemblages in their own research, and to broadly defne the nature
of the uptake and use of the pottery wheel in the Aegean during the Late Bronze Age.
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Jill Hilditch, Caroline Jefra, Loes Opgenhafen: The Tracing the Potter’s Wheel Project (TPW): An Integrated Archaeological Investigation
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technological and digital datasets will ultimately help to
refne the identifcation of wheel-use strategies within the
archaeological assemblages under study and subsequently
assess the development of these strategies in the Late Bronze
Age Aegean.
2. Regional context for the case study
The appearance of the potter’s wheel in the Bronze Age
Aegean has been understood as two potentially independent
events, which relate to two diferent chronological horizons
(Knappett, 1999; Choleva, 2012; Rutter, 2013). The frst
horizon belongs to the Lefkandi I/Kastri phase of the later
Early Bronze (EB) II period, widely interpreted as resulting
from increased trade in metals between groups in the Aegean
and western Anatolia (Renfrew, 1972; Sotirakopoulou, 1993).
The vessels of this phase are known as “Anatolianising”
(Şahoğlu, 2007). In the second horizon, the wheel is
perceived as a Minoan technology, distributed beyond the
borders of Crete as part of a technological package attesting
to growing Minoan power and infuence within the southern
and central Aegean (Minoanisation – Hägg and Marinatos,
1984; Macdonald
et al.
, 2009; Gorogianni
et al.
, 2016) –
Figure 1.
Recent analysis supports the use of wheel-coiling
during the frst use of the potter’s wheel in the Near East
and Aegean regions (Roux, 2003; 2009; Roux and Jefra,
2015; Jefra, 2013; 2019; Choleva, 2012). This technique
exists alongside other handmade techniques during the later
phase of the EB II right up until the end of the Bronze Age
(Choleva, 2018; 2020; Choleva, Jung and Kardamaki, 2020;
Jefra, 2013; 2019). Our understanding of the transition from
wheel-coiling to wheel-throwing throughout the Aegean,
however, is still based upon the traditional narrative of
an increasingly broad adoption of the potter’s wheel as
a manufacturing technology across the region, culminating
in mastery of the wheel-throwing technique by Mycenaean
communities of the mature Late Bronze (LB) period. Yet
the development of this innovation, when and how potters
learned to centre a lump of clay on the wheel in order to draw
up a pot rather than rotating a preformed (coiled) roughout,
remains assumed rather than empirically supported.
Two major Aegean settlements with ideal ceramic datasets
were chosen to investigate the development and transmission
of the potter’s wheel in this region: Knossos on the island
of Crete, and Tsoungiza in the Argolid (see Figure 2).
Both settlements have yielded rich, diachronic ceramic
assemblages spanning (at least) the EB to the latest phases
of the LB period, and ofer valuable insights on the nature of
Minoan and Mycenaean ceramic communities of practice.
At each settlement, TPW will focus on the ceramic deposits
Figure 1.
The three chronological transitions in the Bronze Age Aegean in which potting wheel technology has been discussed. Image: J. Hilditch.
Figure 2.
The Aegean and the locations of Tsoungiza and Knossos. Image:
L. Opgenhafen.
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of the Potter’s Wheel in the Bronze Age Aegean
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Figure 3.
The experiment, 3D visualisation and fabric analysis components of the Tracing the Potter
’
s Wheel Project. Image: J. Hilditch and A. Dekker.
Figure 4.
Example of videos of the potting process flmed from two diferent angles, available via https://tracingthewheel.eu/database/. Image: C. Jefra.
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of the Potter’s Wheel in the Bronze Age Aegean
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from the later Middle Bronze (MB) to the fnal phases of the
LB, to empirically assess the presence and nature of wheel
use, as well as identify the potential transition between
wheel-coiling and wheel-throwing techniques.
3. Methodology
3.1 Research components
In order to investigate where, how, and when, specifc types
of wheel technique appeared within the Bronze Age Aegean,
the TPW methodology integrates theoretical perspectives on
social interactions, technological processes and innovation,
with experimental, 3D digital and analytical methods for
visualising and interpreting ceramics. There are three
core components within this methodology: experiment,
fabric analysis and digital archaeology (see Figure 3). This
integrated approach allows the identifcation (presence,
type), characterisation (local/import), and visualisation
(knowledge sharing and dissemination) of wheel use within
past potting communities.
3.1.1 Experiment
The experimental component of the Tracing the Potter’s
Wheel project involved hypothesis testing using
comparative material: it addressed the extent to which it is
possible to successfully identify diferent potting techniques
in archaeological material based on experimental material.
This required the production of a generalised typeset of
vessels, their shapes determined by the presence of specifc
geometric morphology on specifc zones (Jefra, this
volume). By representing the potential range of variation of
vessel shapes, this typeset contained suitable analogues for
the archaeological material of the Bronze Age Aegean as
well as many other contexts. Commercially available clay
was used to further support this aim of broad comparability,
but two types were selected: fne untempered and tempered
with 2.0 mm grog. Vessels were either wheel coiled or
wheel thrown, and each unique combination of vessel
shape/forming technique/clay was created several times.
The potting process itself was flmed from several angles
in order to capture habitual gestures and unconscious
practices explicitly (see Figure 4). Experimental vessels
were then fred and studied using protocols identical to
those applied to archaeological material. This extensive
and well-recorded comparative collection was then used to
establish details of the
chaîne opératoire
for archaeological
assemblages.
Comparison against archaeological material specifcally
required the development of a recording protocol. This took
the form of standardised photography conditions, applied to
experimental and archaeological objects alike. Vessels were
photographed in a light-reducing photo box where a fashlight
was used to cast controlled shadows across the surface from
diferent angles. These photographs are a durable record of
the morphology of surface traces which are often difcult
to discern unless material is directly handled. By comparing
traces on experimental vessels against those on archaeological
vessels, it is possible to gain a stronger understanding of the
forming techniques used by ancient potters.
3.1.2 Fabric analysis
Once traces of wheel use have been identifed on
an archaeological vessel, the next step is to ask where this
vessel has come from: was it made locally to where it was
found, using geologically compatible raw materials, or
was it imported? This question is crucial for investigating
where
the practice of wheel use took place, and whether
the technical knowledge of how to use a potter’s wheel was
present at the fnd site. A combination of compositional
and technological analysis (ceramic fabric analysis: see
Whitbread, 2017 for a summary) is used to determine
vessel provenance (Figure 5). First, local compatibility,
geologically, to the surrounding area of a site is investigated,
and then if the clay paste of the wheel-made vessel represents
particular processing behaviours of those raw materials.
Where geological compatibility cannot be established, the
vessel is assumed to be imported and its provenance is then
Figure 5.
Digital microscope image of a ceramic fabric, showing a surface image (left) and a section break (right) from the same pot. Image: J. Hilditch.
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investigated using comparative fabric analyses from other
ceramic assemblages, in combination with typological and
stylistic characteristics.
By establishing a local vs. imported provenance for
wheel-formed vessels within their fnd contexts, instances
of technological transmission of the potter’s wheel can be
contrasted against – and interpreted in light of – choices in
the distribution and consumption of identifed imported
wheel-formed vessels (Hilditch, 2019). The trajectories of
transmission for the potter’s wheel can then be mapped through
time. This methodology is rooted in attaining an understanding
of local production sequences (
chaînes opératoires
) for local
ceramic products, and their respective communities of practice,
as well as distribution networks and consumption choices that
were taken in relation to wheel-made vessels. Uncovering the
socio-technological choices within communities that used
wheel technology, and consumed its products, are crucial for
reconstructing the interaction pathways through which the
potter’s wheel spread.
3.1.3 3D visualisation
High-resolution 3D scanning can enhance manual, traditional
detection methods of macroscopic surface features. Perhaps
the greatest advantage of 3D models is that objects can be
inspected and analysed outside of their original context, in
a virtual environment, using similar tools such as lighting
and measuring, reinforced with digital tools such as feature
enhancement algorithms (Figure 6). Both archaeological
and experimental vessels are well suited for 3D scanning
techniques. The TPW experimental ceramic dataset has been
scanned in 3D to build an online reference collection of
shapes and macrotraces where pottery can be compared with
the online examples. Currently TPW uses the commercial
platform Sketchfab as an embedded 3D viewer, but other
online presentation platforms, such as 3DHOP, are explored
as well.
Several 3D scanners were tested and compared, which led
to the decision to perform all scans with a structured light
scanner (SLS), the DAVID SLS-3 (also known as HP 3D
Figure 6.
Traditional photography from many angles and controlled lighting (top), versus a single 3D model on which the same visual inspection
can be performed digitally and enriched with embedded data (bottom), as visible in the Tracing the Potter’s Wheel Project database. Image: C. Jefra
and L. Opgenhafen.
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Structured Light Scanner Pro S3). The scans are processed
in the native scanner software HP Scan Pro 5 and open-
source software Meshlab. This procedure of scanning and
processing is recorded in the TPW metadata scheme, which
can be found on the project’s website. Both 3D models and
the batch of separate scans are saved in multiple fle formats
and made available for download in TPW’s online database,
to ensure data transparency, reproducibility and accessibility.
Lastly, TPW is experimenting with 3D prints of both vessels
and macrotraces, the latter as a training set, to deploy in
teaching students in archaeology and as an efective tool for
public outreach (Figures 7a–c).
However, 3D models remain “empty vessels” if they
are not connected to contextual data. In 2D visualisations,
information about raw data and three-dimensional data is
codifed, and archaeologists are trained to recognise its
Figure 7.
a–b) The 3D printed training
set of forming traces (left). QR codes
contain links to the online 3D models with
embedded information (middle). As such,
the 3D print becomes a meaningful teaching
object due to its connection to data (right).
Image: L. Opgenhafen. c) 3D printed
objects in a museum setting to encourage
public participation. Image: L. Opgenhafen.
a)
c)
b)
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of the Potter’s Wheel in the Bronze Age Aegean
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meaning in almost the blink of an eye. A digital 3D model,
however, is able to display untranslated three-dimensional
data, and has the potential to embed associated information
in an entirely diferent way, following diferent choices of
data abstraction (Munzner, 2015; Ware, 2013).
4. Sharing research
4.1 Data integration
Sophisticated investigations combining experimental
archaeology, ceramic fabric analysis and 3D visualisation
inevitably generate a wide range of datasets. Over the course
of feldwork and analysis, TPW has generated considerable
data, composed of multiple fle types for images, video
footage, 3D models, and texts, as well as the contextual
information for those fles, including metadata and paradata.
It is increasingly recognised that the choice of what data
to collect, and in which format, has a direct impact on the
archaeological knowledge-making process (Börjesson and
Huvila, 2018; Opgenhafen, in press). For this reason, the
project archive was designed to capture and share the full-
range of technologically-focused information about forming
techniques for archaeological and experimental ceramics,
as the specifc needs for presenting an archaeologically-
retrieved object are diferent from presenting an
experimentally-produced object. In the TPW database,
information about real material, the pottery, is connected to
the 3D model. Photographs, media and written annotations
augment the digital 3D model in the database, making them
meaningful representations of data and concepts, and a new
kind of digital artefact supporting research.
4.2 The TPW knowledge hub
The TPW archive for compositional and technological
features of wheel-made ceramics was conceived as an online
platform from the outset. This visual presentation of data is
designed to be a cognitive learning tool while at the same
time functioning as a knowledge hub, a place of knowledge
creation. The TPW knowledge hub provides high-quality
resources and standardised guidelines for researchers to learn
to technologically assess assemblages in their own research.
Furthermore, specifcally-designed learning pathways help
to transform the digital archive into an interactive and
innovative tool where users are encouraged to explore and
contribute to the database.
A learning pathway (LP) has been defned as “a sequence
of intermediate steps” from prior conception to a product (or
“target model”), “a route of cognitive states” (Clement, 2000;
Niedderer and Goldberg, 1995; Scott, 1992), tentatively
similar to the concept of
chaîne opératoire
that TPW applies
to investigate past and present practice. LPs are customarily
either fxed and formal learning programs (for example,
through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)) or
fexible and informal ways of learning (for example, through
communities of practice, connected learners, multivocal
and choice, storytelling and mobile devices). The latter
represents a central theme in TPW’s overarching framework
to study ancient modes of technological transmission within
communities of practice in the Bronze Age Aegean. Today,
informal LPs ofer an opportunity to meet learning modes in
modern communities of practice (as developed by Wenger,
1998), such as archaeologists investigating ancient potting
practices.
TPW employs an informal LP in which encourages
multiple users to follow intelligible clusters of information
rather than a structured path of courses. This allows users to
have self-determination in the learning trajectories provided
for to them, and allows us to tailor these clusters to any entry
level (lay, student, specialist). These seemingly random
educational oferings entail a short introduction to the topic
(forming techniques) and how to use the database, but also
incorporate TPW’s workfows for collecting, analysing and
assessing datasets to ensure usability and reproducibility.
Following design thinking, expected user needs were
assessed during the planning stage of the database, which has
Table 1.
Tracing the Potter’s Wheel Project’s learning paths. * Learning paths are currently in production at the time of writing of this article. Tracing the
Potter’s Wheel Project’s learning paths can be found at:
https://tracingthewheel.eu/.
Learning path typ
e
MediumTheme
research:
methods and workfows
blog/publication
TPW’s selection procedures*
blogTPW’s photographic recording procedure*
blogTPW’s fabric analysis procedure
blog
TPW workfow series: SLS scanning manual
educational:
research objectives
blog
TPW workfow series: Manual on processing 3D scans
blog
TPW workfow series: metadata and sharing 3D models
blog3D printing pots and traces
3D prints3D training set of macrotraces
practical:
using online environment
Video tutorialhow to use the database, browse and search functions*
Video tutorialhow to use the 3D viewer*
video tutorial/blogusing downloaded 3D fles in open-source software*
video tutorial/blog
how to register as contributor and upload a dataset*
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been discussed in Opgenhafen, Jefra and Hilditch (in press).
Subsequently, a threefold learning approach was developed
(Table 1). The frst topic relates to the research procedure,
comprising the presentation of data, the accumulation of new
data, and the creation and presentation of new knowledge.
The second topic is educational, focusing on informing
about ancient technology in general and forming techniques
of pottery more specifcally (Figure 9). The third topic is
practical and concerns how to use the database. The LPs are
illustrated through either video tutorials, or blog posts, or
a combination of both, as well as by 3D reference collections
with tagged 3D models. These models can be downloaded
for further exploration and 3D printed for use in classrooms.
LPs are designed to reach as many individuals as possible
from diverse backgrounds, so as to allow users to participate
– rather than follow assiduously – according to difering
needs. For example, an archaeologist with a ceramic
assemblage seeking comparative data for wheel use may
use the information quite diferently to a student embarking
on their training for identifying wheel traces on ceramics.
The process of building the LP from discrete clusters of
information that are accessible to all levels of expertise
makes the LP a more inclusive tool.
The need for broadening archaeological data literacy has
been recently addressed by Kansa and Kansa (2018, p.89),
who emphasise the importance of “making instructional uses
of data; strategies to make data more visual, better cited,
and more integral to peer-review processes; and pathways
to create higher-quality data better suited for reuse”. These
issues have been tackled by TPW, especially the reusability
of data and reproducibility of TPW’s workfows. The TPW
database on wheel-made pottery is not meant as a static
archive where project data is fled away after fnishing
a project. Instead, it is designed to be an active knowledge
hub and a reference collection of wheel-formed pottery.
The TPW project data itself, however, will be stored and
maintained at the Dutch Data Archiving and Networking
Service (DANS), where it receives a DOI (Digital Object
Identifer), enabling datasets to be cited too.
4.3 Encouraging ongoing collaboration
The creation of a dedicated and open access information
hub by the project, which includes TPW’s fndings, is
not the only major asset worth highlighting here. What is
worthy of more attention, particularly for those interested
in technologically assessing wheel-formed ceramics, is the
fact that this information hub is open to – and designed
for – contributions by others. TPW’s work with KBELL
& POSTMAN to create the hub means there are tested
Figure 8.
Example of a learning pathway with a student-level research topic: a blog post on 3D scanning. Image: L. Opgenhafen.
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of the Potter’s Wheel in the Bronze Age Aegean
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and user-friendly ways to import data from other projects.
Although the TPW project focused on the Aegean in the
Late Bronze Age, there are no limitations on the focus
of potential contributions; the hub can accommodate any
datasets which present information on the nature of wheel
use in the archaeological record.
In order to ensure that independent contributions are
readily integrated and reliably comparable to existing data
within the hub, standards for data reporting procedures should
be followed by contributing users. It was for this reason that
TPW workfows and best practices have been explicitly
shared, as well as standardised data import processes. By
standardising not only data collection and recording but also
the integration of data, cross-comparison is easier and new
datasets can be readily incorporated and searchable in the
hub. In particular, the approach taken within the information
hub is to dictate the minimum included information for
each entry while encouraging participants to provide further
details. In this way, archaeological objects included will
allow viewers to understand the archaeological contexts from
which they come. Similarly, experimental objects will be
well described so that their validity as comparative material
can be established easily. Photo, video, and 3D models will
be welcomed with their accompanying metadata so that they
can be seamlessly incorporated and readily useful to visitors.
It is through this standardisation that the hub can remain
useful to technology specialists and the broader community
of archaeologists alike, but it should also be stated that such
practices simplify the maintenance of connections to other
repositories such as Europeana.
The knowledge hub can be seen as an important step
in the democratisation of knowledge sharing; scholars are
invited and assisted in contributing their research, and the
data itself is freely available for study. Furthermore, visitors
are given the tools to advance in their understanding of what
the hub presents. Ultimately, with the contribution of more
datasets, a better understanding in ancient potting strategies
can be reached to trace the potter’s wheel well beyond the
boundaries of the Aegean Sea.
5. Summary
Investigating a complex technology such as the potter’s
wheel requires a methodology that not only integrates
multiple archaeological specialisms, but which also
embraces data sharing within an open access environment.
Our goals for TPW were twofold: to encourage the uptake
of skills within the archaeological community to increase
this type of technological study, thereby growing potential
datasets that can be applied for characterising the use of
potter’s wheel; and to promote contributions from other
specialists that will facilitate greater comparisons between
assemblages. To achieve these goals, the project members
of TPW actively sought to standardise and enhance research
practices (past and present) through the integration of
previously separate archaeological techniques and methods.
Thorough documentation of analyst choices within the
experiment, fabric analysis and 3D visualisation components
of the project, as well as training manuals for equipment
Figure 9.
Example of a learning pathway with an entry-level educational topic: a blogpost by Caroline Jefra about why archaeologists study potting
techniques. Image: L. Opgenhafen.
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use and blogs on how to process the data, TPW provides
a substantial resource for future investigations of pottery
wheel technology. To make this resource as efective a tool as
possible, open access was prioritised throughout the project
to facilitate future research on wheel practices in ceramic
production within a robust and active community. The fnal
results of TPW will also further our understanding of how
the potter’s wheel was being used at the key diachronic sites
of Knossos and Tsoungiza, thereby contributing to a better
understanding of the temporal and spatial patterns of potter’s
wheel use and development in the Bronze Age Aegean.
Acknowledgements
The Tracing the Potter’s Wheel Project is funded by the
Dutch Research Council (NWO) through the VIDI Talent
Programme and Aspasia Scheme awarded to J. Hilditch
(2016–2021). Additional fnancial support was given from
the following University of Amsterdam units: Amsterdam
School for Heritage, Memory and Material Culture (AHM),
Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR),
Amsterdam University Funds (AUF) and the Faculty of
Humanities Archaeology Fund. The TPW project members
also gratefully acknowledge logistical support from Digna van
der Woude and Astrit Blommenstijn (Faculty of Humanities,
UvA). The realisation of the open access repository was
made possible due to a Small Data Project (KDP) award
from the Dutch Data Archiving and Networked Services
(DANS), as well as the assistance and expertise of Ivan Kisjes
(UvA), Karissa Bell and Alex Post (KBELL & POSTMAN),
and Kelly Papastergiou (TPW Project Assistant).
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