Abstract
Pottery and People: A Dynamic Interaction. James M. Skibo and Gary M. Feinman (editors). Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry. Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press. 1999. 260 pp. 91 figures. 30 tables. ISBN 0-87480-576-7. $55.00 (cloth); 0-87489-577-5. $25.00 (paperback). Material Meanings: Critical Approaches to the Interpretation of Material Culture. Elizabeth S. Chilton (editor). Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. 1999.179pp. 35 figures. 11 tables. ISBN 0-87480-632-1. $55.00 (cloth); 087480-633-X. $35.00 (paperback). The description and interpretation of material culture may be regarded as the essence of archaeology, a discipline that seeks to recover, describe, document, and interpret past human culture. More recently, understanding that actions occur in a material world that is constituted symbolically, archaeological explanations are often framed in sociocultural meanings, the analysis of agencies, practices and behaviors. I shall subsequently return to this issue. Because of their longevity in the archaeological record, lithic and ceramic artifacts are crucial to the endeavor to interpret human culture. Objects fashioned from clay and subjected to intentional artificial sources of heat made their initial appearance in the archaeological record more than 26.000 years ago. Ceramic objects have been created in a seemingly endless variety of shapes and forms, varying from fertility figurines. to cooking and food storage vessels. lamps, smoking pipes, medicinal pastilles, tokens, beehives, and coffins to modern whitewares and pyroceramics.
Highlights
The description and interpretation of material culture may be regarded as the essence of archaeology, a discipline that seeks to recover, describe, document, and interpret past human culture
I shall subsequently return to this issue. Because of their longevity in the archaeological record, lithic and ceramic artifacts are crucial to the endeavor to interpret human culture
Objects fashioned from clay and subjected to intentional artificial sources of heat made their initial appearance in the archaeological record more than 26.000 years ago
Summary
The description and interpretation of material culture may be regarded as the essence of archaeology, a discipline that seeks to recover, describe, document, and interpret past human culture. I shall subsequently return to this issue Because of their longevity in the archaeological record, lithic and ceramic artifacts are crucial to the endeavor to interpret human culture. How pottery was first created is still a matter for speculation among students of early cultures and technologicaJ innovation, pottery making is one of the oldest crafts known to humankind having developed independently in different parts of the world at different times, often in extremely diverse social, economic, and ecological settings. Each of the 13 contributions appearing in the volume Pottery and People, edited by Skibo and Feinman, deal with ceramics, whereas, a six of nine chapters in Chilton's Material Meanings directly involve pot tery. The remaining three chapters concern the contexts and meanings of material culture including ceramics in two instances and lithics in the other. I shall begin with a brief assessment of the contents of each of these important volumes before an analysis of the scope, content, and success of these books with emphasis placed on these works as contributions to the history of archaeology
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