Ethnoarchaeological studies have longed served as a critical source of hypotheses, comparative data, and explanatory frameworks for archaeologists interested in describing and explaining ceramic production. In this paper, I lay out the central questions addressed by archaeologists studying craft production, discuss how ethnoarchaeology has contributed to our understanding of ancient production systems, and suggest avenues of further research that can benefit archaeological investigation of the organization of ceramic production.

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The Use of Ethnoarchaeology for the Archaeological Study of Ceramic Production

Ongoing debates over the significance of specialized production in ancient political economies frequently hinge on questions of whether elites or commoners controlled craft manufactures and whether the material or ideological import of these production processes was more significant in deciding power contests. Though long recognized, such queries were traditionally answered in relatively straightforward economic terms. Recently, these time-honored approaches have been questioned. An ever increasing number of authors are promoting varied takes on the causal linkages between political forms and processes, on the one hand, and patterns of production, distribution, and use of craft goods, on the other. The literature generated by these discussions is extensive, vibrant, and often confusing. Rather than trying to synthesize all reports and essays dealing with specialized manufacture, this paper highlights general interpretive trends that underlie and structure current debates. The concluding section offers suggestions for how studies of relations among crafts, power, and social heterogeneity might be pursued profitably in the future.

Modeling the Roles of Craft Production in Ancient Political Economies

The last decade has seen a surge in ceramic ethnoarchaeological studies worldwide, covering such important topics as ceramic production, technological change, ceramic use and distribution, and social boundaries. Some of the most exciting new Americanist research helps archaeologists refine models of ceramic production. Increasing numbers of non-Americanist studies use a technology and culture framework to examine manufacturing variability, the dynamics of cultural transmission between generations, and the articulation between ceramic technology and social boundaries. This review summarizes these recent trends, places current ethnoarchaeological research in its theoretical contexts, and looks to the future of research in a dynamic landscape in which ceramic production systems are undergoing rapid change. Many varieties of research currently now fall under the rubric of ceramic ethnoarchaeology, and Americanist archaeologist are encouraged to look beyond their own regionalist and theoretical paradigms to consult this wider literature.

Current Issues in Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology

Starting with an example illustrating the complexity and variability of behaviours related to clay selection and processing, this paper explores the mechanisms underlying the spatial and temporal variations of technical traditions pertaining to these steps of the manufacturing process. Using a large databank on pottery in sub-Saharan Africa, our aim is to follow-up on Dean Arnolds work on pottery paste variation and their social significance. The paper is divided in three parts. In the first one, we examine the diversity of technical practices as regards raw material selection and processing. The aim is to give an overview of the tools, techniques and recipes observed throughout Africa. In the second part, we examine the strategies developed by potters at these two levels of the manufacturing process: Why and how are specific clay sources selected? Why are clays processed in specific ways? The idea is to examine potters’ knowledge from the inside, in order to understand their choices. In the third part, we consider the dynamics and distribution of technical traditions pertaining to clay selection and processing. Here, we want to explore how behaviour are reproduced through space and time and to which extent they may be altered by individual potters.

The source: Clay selection and processing practices in Sub-Saharan Africa

In this paper, we argue that pot-making should be considered in its broader landscape to reveal not only its articulation with the many other quotidian tasks undertaken by a community but also how ancient people oriented themselves in that landscape. We address this point in the context of two small Neolithic communities in southern Calabria, Italy, by treating archaeological ceramics as congealed taskscapes and implementing a novel methodology to unravel the interactions among people, materials, and landscapes. We examine how clay sources are distributed in the local landscape, what the qualities of the clays within them are, and what specific materials the Neolithic potters used in making their pots. We ask not only where in the landscape potters went to get their raw materials but also where they did not go. Their selective engagement with the landscape reveals a social understanding of parts of the landscape considered “appropriate” and “relevant” to pot-making (inland areas) and parts that were not (coastal areas). We also ask what other tasks potters could have undertaken while collecting clays. The co-occurrence of resources in the landscape highlights the need to consider the interlocking of various daily tasks and reveals which tasks could have been perceived as socially related. By explicitly considering the task of pot-making in its landscape, this paper reveals the relational and mutually constitutive articulation of both in everyday life.

Local Clay Sources as Histories of Human–Landscape Interactions: a Ceramic Taskscape Perspective

This ethnoarchaeological study examines sociopolitical constraints on traditional pottery production in Paradijon, southern Luzon, the Philippines. Factionalism divided the potting community as it became involved in elite competition and dictated that the two potting factions acquire clays from sources controlled by elite alliance partners. This study examines patterning in instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) data in relationship to the involvement of independent craft specialists in elite competition. Patterning of INAA data at community and regional levels is found, illustrating the middle-range links between sociopolitical behavior of potters and patterns in clay composition. INAA patterning among clay preparation areas appears dependent on whether a preparation area is in public or private space. Regionally, primary markets express INAA signals from both factions, whereas secondary markets reflect potter participation of a particular faction.

Mark A. Neupert

Papers

Clays of Contention: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Factionalism and Clay Composition

Identifying pottery clay from rice fields: an example from southern Luzon, the Philippines