Experimental approaches to archaeological ceramics: unifying disparate methodologies with the chaîne opératoire

Abstract

It has been stated that experimental archaeology is inherently better equipped to address technological factors than social ones. In this respect, the chaine operatoire approach has much to recommend it for experimental archaeology. In this contribution, a case will be made for the increased interpretive power of this combination by examining a number of examples where authors have incorporated chaine operatoire explicitly or implicitly within their investigations of a single-material type: ceramics. It is argued that, by using the chaine operatoire to frame and contextualise experimental archaeology methodologies and interpretations, individual research programmes can produce more anthropologically relevant results.