Abstract
The organization of craft production has long been a marker for broader social, economic and political changes that accompanied urbanism. The identity of producers who comprised production groups, communities, or workshops is out of reach using conventional archaeological data. There has been some success using epidermal prints on artefacts to identify the age and sex of producers. However, forensic research indicates that a combination of ridge breadth and ridge density would best identify the age and sex of individuals. To this end, we combine mean ridge breadth (MRB) and mean ridge density (MRD) to distinguish the age and sex of 112 fingerprints on Early Bronze Age (EB) III pottery from the early urban neighbourhood at Tell eṣ-Ṣâfi/Gath, Israel, dating to a 100 year time span. Our analysis accounts for the shrinkage of calcareous fabrics used to make six type of vessels, applies a modified version of the Kamp et al. regression equation to the MRB for each individual print, and infers sex by correlating MRD data to appropriate modern reference populations. When the results are combined, our analyses indicate that most fingerprints were made by adult and young males and the remainder by adult and young females. Children’s prints are in evidence but only occur on handles. Multiple prints of different age and sex on the same vessels suggest they were impressed during the training of young potters. Production appears dominated by adult and young males working alone, together, and in cooperation with adult and/or young females. Vessels with prints exclusively by females of any age are rare. This male dominant cooperative labour pattern contrasts recent studies showing that adult women primarily made Neolithic figurines in Anatolia, and more females than males were making pottery prior to the rise of city-states in northern Mesopotamia.
Highlights
Forensic research has long established that epidermal prints are consistently different in ridge breadth and ridge density as a respective result of age and sexual dimorphism
We argued that Kralık and Novotny’s robust sample makes it clear that ridge breadth 0.52 mm correlate with adult males
Following the suggestions of forensic researchers, such as Soanboon et al [23], we introduced an identification matrix as an interpretive framework that incorporates the generalized >95% probability thresholds for age based upon ridge breadth data and the >95% probability thresholds for sex based upon ridge density data
Summary
Forensic research has long established that epidermal prints are consistently different in ridge breadth and ridge density as a respective result of age and sexual dimorphism. Prints that survive on vessels, figurines and other ceramic objects hold great potential for providing insights into labour organization and how the craft was taught and learned, as they provide the only direct source of evidence for the demographics of ancient communities of potters [1]. It is not known if prints are rare on ceramics [2]. While they may not be rare, they are rarely studied despite consistent research by forensic scholars on developing and refining methods of identifying the age and sex of individuals from epidermal finger and palm prints [4,5,6,7,8,9]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
