Organization Of Ceramic Production Research Articles

Individual or communal? Exploring the social dynamics of ceramic production at the Lengyel circular-enclosure site of Těšetice-Kyjovice – Sutny, South Moravia

Although ceramic vessels form the majority of artifact assemblages in the Neolithic, little is known about their production beyond the assumption that they were made in a domestic context. Characterizing the scale of ceramic production is important for understanding Neolithic social and economic processes, particularly at sites with enclosure systems that indicate an increased degree of social organization. Nevertheless, characterizing the complexity and social entanglements of ceramic production is a difficult task in the absence of primary production locales.In this study, we provide a working hypothesis and use ceramic and clay petrographic data to highlight the variability in ceramic technological practices, and in turn, identify the organization of ceramic production at the Late Neolithic (Lengyel I; 4750–4500 BCE) site of Těšetice-Kyjovice – Sutny, South Moravia, Czech Republic. The site is characterised by a large circular enclosure, the construction of which required a high level of social cooperation. It is still under scrutiny whether the cooperation required for building the enclosure system was only temporary and related to this construction activity, or if it reflects a higher degree of social organization in general.By understanding ceramic production, we may clarify the complexity of the most common production processes that took place at the site. Large-scale ceramic and clay petrographic data provide information on the first steps of the chaîne opératoire in ceramic fabrication, which can be used to assess the organization of production. A systematic analysis of a large number of ceramic samples, representing all basic typological and macroscopically distinguishable fabric groups, revealed a high degree of individuality in choices of raw materials and tempers. Ceramic petrographic data, compared with the petrographic data of local sediment sources, further highlighted individuality in raw material and temper preferences, and even mixing of raw materials was identified.Our analyses suggest that Lengyel culture potters likely produced their vessels on a household level, with no evidence suggesting non-domestic production. These data, in conjunction with ceramic petrographic data from Hungarian Late Neolithic sites, suggest that Late Neolithic communities were self-sufficient in terms of utilitarian pottery production. Ceramic petrographic data also indicate interaction between the inhabitants of Těšetice and other Lengyel culture communities in the vicinity, perhaps further indicating a higher degree of social organization at the site.

Processes occurring during the synthesis of wollastonite‑containing refractory used in non‑ferrous metallurgy

This article presents the results of research on the processes occurring during the synthesis of wollastonite‑containing ceramics obtained from various clay components. The peculiarities of crystalline phase formation in the material are described. The obtained information lays the foundation for the organization of ceramic production that is in demand in the metallurgical industry.

The organization of Chinese ceramic production from the Tang to the Ming periods: archaeological evidence from ceramic workshops

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the plans and layouts of Chinese ceramic workshops from the Tang to Ming periods (seventh to seventeenth century AD) to understand how ceramic production was organized and how organization developed over time. Through the comparative examination of 254 workshops from 96 workshop sites, two workshop types have been defined based on the spatial arrangement of their production facilities. This paper argues that each workshop type reflects a different degree of labor specialization, and despite some regional differences, the organization of ceramic production developed in a consistent way across China.

동북아 원사시대의 물질문화변동

The new technologies of ceramic production, such as wheel-turning, paddling and firing in reducing-atmosphere, were widely diffused into the Northeastern periphery of East Asia during the Proto-historic period. As the Yan(燕) State established political and military outposts in the Liaoning area in the late Warring States period, new technologies accepted in the expanded territory also affected the ceramic production in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The previous researches on the transformation of ceramic production technology and organization in the Proto-historic period Northeast Asia have focused on the question of when and from where the technology was accepted, but this study attempted to explain it as a time-space process of the technological innovation. When the potters with new techniques and their production organizations migrated into a certain region, the contact with the potters from indigenous communities that produced ceramic wares in traditional methods took place. As potters based on different technological systems came into contact, the technology that had been introduced with the migration of potter was transmitted to the indigenous potters through the fabrication learning, and they acquired the new bodily techniques to produce traditional and new ceramic vessels. With these technological transformations, indigenous groups develop into a complex society and develop a new organization for the ceramic production. Along with these technological changes, a new specialized organization of ceramic production developed between indigenous communities. This paper attempted a comparative explanation of the processes of technological innovations in two different regions, the southeastern part of the Korean Peninsula and the upper Han-River valley, based on the agency theory.

The Social Organization of Ceramic Production in a Colonial Context: The Case of Panamanian Majolica and Criolla Ware

Due to the existence of wares that were produced both within and outside Spanish-tradition workshop in Panama Viejo, this site offers an apt opportunity to study how coexisting but seemingly distinct potting communities organized their craft in a colonial context. To this end, a sample of two locally produced wares—one characterized by high-fired, wheel-thrown, and tin-glazed vessels known as Panamanian Majolica and the other by low-fired, handmade, and coarse-textured utilitarian vessels known as Criolla—were analyzed. The findings of the macroscopic and microscopic characterizations revealed that highly divergent potting communities, whose productions practices and craft organization varied drastically, coexisted at the site.

The organization of ceramic production: A comparative analysis of typology and petrography at the Avar Age settlement of Daruszentmiklós (Hungary)

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A preliminary assessment of the organization of ceramic production at Liangchengzhen, Rizhao, Shandong: Perspectives from petrography

This petrographic analysis of the mineral composition of ceramics from Liangchengzhen (LCZ), Dantu, and two other sites in the Rizhao area, southeastern Shandong province, northern China, addresses the nature of ceramic change in complex societies during the late prehistoric, Longshan period. The analysis focused on relatively coarse wares (ding) used for daily subsistence activities and fine wares (bei cups). Comparison with local clays helped investigate technology and provenance. Results suggest the existence of multiple production units at or near each site. At LCZ, two clay types for ding ware production and two finer (or refined) clay types for bei ware production were the most commonly used throughout the existence of the site indicating stability in use of locally available clay sources over time. We argue that nucleation of population in the area during the Longshan period did not lead to more control for clay acquisition and paste preparation. At the end of the LCZ occupation, production may have intensified in quantity of ware produced and multiplicity of clay (or clay and temper) resources identified. However, there is no evidence for standardization of production with respect to paste composition or that production was centralized in only a few loci, even for the fine ware bei cups. Our results suggest flexible, relatively stable, and self-organizing systems of production and distribution in the Rizhao region, which sustained the populations well during the early and middle Longshan periods.

Los estilos tecnológicos cerámicos de La Chanchería como indicadores de modos de hacer y de producir de las sociedades tardías del valle de Uspallata (NO de Mendoza)

<p>Examinamos materiales cerámicos de componentes tardíos del área de La Chanchería (valle de Uspallata, NO de Mendoza), mediante el análisis morfométrico y decorativo. Seguimos criterios para la selección y obtención del Número Mínimo de Vasijas (NMV) y conformamos caracterizaciones para cada estilo cerámico, teniendo en cuenta morfología, capacidad volumétrica, composición general de las pastas y tipos de motivos decorativos. Partimos de la idea de que cada estilo tecnológico es un modo de hacer, un conjunto de hábitos y capacidades apropiadas, en un tiempo y espacio determinados, y que involucra relaciones sociales cargadas de significado. La comparación de los resultados con el material arqueológico de otros sitios del área y de la región nos acerca a interpretaciones sobre comportamientos relacionados con la organización de la producción cerámica en tiempos del tardío local y de la dominación estatal incaica.<br /><br /><strong>Abstract </strong></p><p>We examined late ceramic components in the La Chanchería area (Uspallata Valley, Northwest Mendoza) through morphometric and decorative analysis. We followed criteria for selecting and obtaining the MNV (minimal number of vessels) and we shaped a characterization for each ceramic style, taking into account morphology, volume, material and decorative patterns. We believe that each technological style is a way of making, habits and appropriate skills in a certain time and place. We can also say that it has a social meaningful relationship. If we compare this archaeological material to others in the same area, we find that there are related behaviors with the organization of ceramic production in the late times and in state Inca domination times.</p>

A HOUSEFUL OF POTS: APPLYING ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA TO ESTIMATE ANNUAL CERAMIC VESSEL CONSUMPTION RATES OF CLASSIC MAYA HOUSEHOLDS

AbstractThis article reviews data from the modern highland Maya area in order to develop a model of vessel discard frequencies applicable to Classic Maya contexts. Estimating the number of pots consumed by ancient households is crucial to reconstructing the organization of ceramic production and exchange in antiquity. The recent publication ofin situhousehold assemblages from the Classic Maya center of Aguateca facilitates an analysis of household pottery use during the Late Classic period. Vessel class use-lives derived from ethnoarchaeological studies are applied to the Aguateca assemblages to estimate annual consumption rates. The simulated Aguateca discard assemblages are then compared to archaeologically recovered vessel class discard frequencies from the Classic Maya center of Tikal. The article concludes with a discussion of how and why pottery requirements for Classic Maya households differed from those of twentieth century Maya and the implications these distinctions have for interpreting consumption pattern for the Classic Maya.

The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community by Dean E. Arnold

The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community by Dean E. Arnold

Organization of ceramic production at a fortified Early Bronze Age settlement in Moravia (Czech Republic) inferred from minimally destructive archaeometry

This paper explores how pottery production was organized at fortified sites of central Europe at the end of the Early Bronze Age. The organization of pottery production in terms of ethnography-based models was inferred jointly by non-destructive multi-elemental analysis, micropetrography and powder X-ray diffraction. This minimally destructive approach was used to explore the mode of pottery production at the fortified central site Blucina (Moravia, Czech Republic). Archaeometry-based indirect evidence indicates that tableware of a specific shape was produced using a specific technology at the site or in its close vicinity and that coarse ware was brought to the site from elsewhere. The results obtained were complexly evaluated and compared with ethnography-based categorizations to reveal the features of production organization of the Early Bronze Age pottery. Multidimensional analysis classified the production as intensified household labour and work of individual retainers, or nucleated corvee, depending on its scale and intensity.

Ceramic provenance and the regional organization of pottery production during the later Formative periods in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico: Results of trace-element and mineralogical analyses

The Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico represents an extremely complex geological context for ceramic provenance studies. Here we utilize this complexity to establish a fine-grained ceramic geography for the central portion of the valley, by combining extensive raw material survey with chemical and mineralogical characterization of clays and pottery. Trace element analyses of 320 field clays and 500 vessels distinguish twelve different areas that were actively producing ceramics during later Middle through Terminal Formative times (700BCE–200CE). These detailed provenance determinations provide a means to track changes in the organization of ceramic production at the core of the emerging Zapotec state, and contribute fresh insights to long-standing economic questions - such as the rise of early market systems - in the Valley of Oaxaca.

The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community by Dean E. Arnold. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2015. 352 pp.

The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community by Dean E. Arnold. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2015. 352 pp.

Correction: The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community

Correction: The Evolution of Ceramic Production Organization in a Maya Community

The evolution of ceramic production organization in a Maya community

The evolution of ceramic production organization in a Maya community

Fingerprints, sex, state, and the organization of the Tell Leilan ceramic industry

The goal of this research is to elucidate the organization of ceramic production at Tell Leilan, Northeast Syria with respect to gender roles from 3400 to 1700 BCE through a study of fingerprint impressions on pottery. Using the distribution of epidermal ridge densities, a technique has been developed and tested to determine the proportion of men and women who formed and finished vessels in a ceramic assemblage. Analysis of 106 fingerprints preserved on sherds indicates that there is a discrete change in the sex ratio of potters at Leilan coincident with the rise of urbanism and state formation in northern Mesopotamia. No change in this pattern, however, are yet correlated with other political shifts, such as changes in the various regimes that had hegemony over the site during the Early and Middle Bronze Age. These results provide new information about the effect of state authority on the public and private organization of crafts as well as the division of society along gender lines. Surprisingly, this transformation in gender roles, which coincides with the rise of the state at Tell Leilan, is not visible at village sites in the Tell Leilan Regional Survey. This indicates that the changes in social fabric that occurred at urban sites with the establishment of state institutions did not occur to the same extent in smaller settlements even though the state did control some of the ceramic production at these sites, at least during the Akkadian period. This methodology and research has implications beyond northern Mesopotamia and provides an innovative technique to empirically test the highly theoretical literature on the relationship of gender to craft production in the archaeological record.

Paisaje local, producción y uso de cerámica tardía en el Valle de Hualfín (departamento de Belén, Catamarca, Argentina)

Fil: Iucci, Maria Emilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Laboratorio de Analisis Ceramico; Argentina

Mental Templates and Ceramic Manufacture at Neolithic An Son, Southern Vietnam

The 1000-year Neolithic occupation of An Son in southern Vietnam consists of ceramics that belong to a tradition that was potentially ancestral to those in many other regions of mainland Southeast Asia. The forms, dimensions, modes of decoration and fabrics of the An Son ceramics throughout the site's occupation have been studied in detail. The morphological dimensions were analysed with coefficient of variation (CV) calculations and the fabrics were characterized using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDX), in conjunction with statistical applications such as principal components analysis (PCA), cluster analysis and canonical variate analysis (CVA). The results suggest that a coherent method of manufacture and a mental template was applied in the manufacture of each major rim form that existed throughout the occupation of An Son. These vessel forms had a continuous evolution with evidence for conservatism in the shape and raw materials, while innovation and variation was observed in the decorative variables. The established mental templates indicate that the organization of ceramic production at An Son was linked to tradition and function in the community.

Distribution, Transportation, and the Persistence of Household Ceramic Production in the Tarascan State

The transportation of pots to market in the Prehispanic Tarascan State was not merely transference of these goods, but part of the logistics of marketing, an act embedded within a local cultural context and comprised of physical and cultural limits upon the participants. This paper addresses two concerns and draws heavily upon geographic information systems and the ethnohistoric and ethnographic record from the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, in Michoacán, Mexico and the highlands of Western Mexico. First, we model the practicality of household potters controlling the transportation of their products within the Tarascan market system. To construct this model we address issues of transport technology, the topography of the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, and information regarding the cultural and political rules governing transportation access within the Late Postclassic Lake Pátzcuaro Basin. Second, we consider the relative stability of the household organization of ceramic production during the emergence of the Tarascan state in light of the significant recent changes in the Basin’s transport technology and networks. We conclude that, despite changes associated with state emergence, basic walking and water transportation networks did not significantly change, and household potters within the Tarascan state retained control over both the transportation of their ceramics and their distribution within the marketplace.

Comparando alfarerías de contextos domésticos de la Aldea Piedra Negra para mediados y finales del primer milenio DC (Laguna Blanca, Catamarca)

This article discusses the comparison of sequences or operational chains involved in the manufacture of ceramic materials from archaeological excavations from four different residential bases of the Aldea Piedra Negra, covering a range of time from VI to X century AD. The ceramic technology is considered as a social phenomenon, simultaneously material and symbolic. In this sense, the production and use of a technology is the expression of a social vision. From this point of view, the ceramics have meanings which are socially and historically contextualized. For the reconstruction of the operational chains we took into account the observation of processes and techniques: obtaining raw materials, preparing the ceramic paste, raising the vessel, decoration, treatment of the surface, cooking and post-cooking decoration. The analysis revealed us differences and similarities in the manufacturing technology providing data about the level of organization of ceramic production in the Aldea Piedra Negra.