5 - Pots as Tools

Abstract

This chapter discusses the need for a change in the way in which archaeologists routinely approach the analysis of pottery. The analysis of pottery plays a leading part in the reconstruction of culture histories in archaeology. The archeologist's analytical sophistication has grown significantly over the decades, as has an understanding of the technology of pottery production. Generally overlooked in the analysis of pottery, however, is the fact that most pots were not made simply to be shaped, tempered, and decorated. Most pots are implements; they are made to be used as containers. Many of the attributes of pottery routinely recorded from sherds for purposes of culture-historical classification are, in fact, evidence of the techniques used by potters to achieve particular characteristics of utility in the finished vessels. When examined in an appropriate theoretical framework, these attributes inform about variation in vessel use, providing complementary evidence of variation, for example, in practices of food preparation and storage and other aspects of prehistoric behavior.