Pottery Forms Research Articles

Pottery uniformity in a stratified society: An ethnoarchaeological perspective from the Gamo of southwest Ethiopia

Previous research has shown that there are many factors, such as vessel type, size, and function, producer skill, and market systems, that can influence pottery standardization/uniformity. In this paper, I use ethnoarchaeology to explore how the social and economic organization of the Gamo living in southwestern Ethiopia affects uniformity of pottery form and decoration. I compare uniformity at the community level to test our assumptions regarding potter specialization associated with potters who are full-time craft specialists living in a complex and highly stratified, caste society. In conclusion, I argue that distribution (i.e., market and patron-client) impacts the uniformity of pottery morphology and decoration.

Excavation at Bakr Awa 2010 and 2011

The site of Bakr Awa is situated in north-eastern Iraq, in the Plain of Shahrizor. Excavations were undertaken in 1960/61by the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and 2010/11 by the University of Heidelberg/Germany. Occupation layers from the beginning of the Early Bronze Age tothe Ottoman period were uncoveredin the lower city and on the citadel. Archaeological evidence from the secondmillennium B.C. shows the most intensive settlement activities and apparent prosperity at Bakr Awa. Several forms of pottery, small finds and architecture reflect dynamic processes of cultural and political transformation at this site located in an area of transition between northern and southern Mesopotamia and western Iran.

SEM-EDS ANALYSIS AS A RAPID TOOL FOR DISTINGUISHING CAMPANIAN A WARE AND SICILIAN IMITATIONS

The aim of this work is to examine whether it is possible to find chemical markers that allow a distinction to be made between the imported black glossed ‘Campanian A’ and the Sicilian imitation (end of fourth to first century bc) of these productions by carrying out quantitative chemical microanalysis of the slip using the SEM–EDS technique. The efficiency of the proposed analytical method has been tested on a set of ceramic samples corresponding to Sicilian black gloss imitations whose ceramic body has already been characterized petrographically by thin-section microscopy and chemically by XRF. The analytical data point to Na2O as a suitable chemical marker to distinguish between original ‘Campanian A’ imported from the Gulf of Naples area and Sicilian imitations of the same forms of Hellenistic pottery. In order to verify the above result, the enrichment factors (EFs) between the raw clays, the corresponding ceramic body and black gloss slip were calculated. Some differences in the patterns of EFs between original ‘Campanian A’ and Sicilian imitations were recognized and explained. Therefore, the obtained results can help to accomplish a first distinction between imported and local material on a firm analytical basis, working on a statistically significant number of individuals.

UNDER DIVINE WINGS: FORMS OF IDEOLOGICAL AND TERRITORIAL DOMINATION DURING THE IBERIAN IRON AGE

SummaryThis article explores the ways in which the Iberian communities of the Iron Age developed a model of extension and legitimization for their social hierarchies. By analysing the testimonies of the ideational realm and the territorial occupation of the Iberian populations, it is argued that the representation of a winged goddess was used by certain families to legitimize the control and possession of natural resources. Thus, the contextual analysis of this goddess can explain a territorial domination established in the southern sub‐plateau of the Iberian Peninsula. A Mediterranean model of the goddess is transformed by combining traditional and foreign elements to create a unique synthesis. What draws our attention, though, is how this new being was eventually integrated into the changes that took place in local populations, which established new constructions of space and new relationships of patronage. New practices appear, such as the persistence of ancient forms of pottery and a symbolic opposition to imported objects. In the following pages, I will identify the underlying process as a territorial division conducted by certain settlements as they explored a broader spatial control. I will explore one of these territories and the ideology employed to implement this form of domination.

Bokoni: Old Structures, New Paradigms? Rethinking Pre-colonial Society from the Perspective of the Stone-Walled Sites in Mpumalanga

This article demonstrates that the interdisciplinary research that has been conducted on Bokoni under the auspices of the 500 Year Initiative has had significant outcomes. We have created a more periodised account of the development of the settlements. Narrow and ethnically determined conceptions of identity have been subjected to critique and the notion that specific pottery forms are necessarily markers of specific cultures or linguistic units has been challenged. Conventional accounts of the nature of Iron Age agriculture have been substantially qualified. At the same time, a host of new questions have been developed around the appropriate unit of study for these communities and the economic and political dynamics that shaped their rise and decline.

Early Formative Pottery Production, Mobility, and Exchange on the Pacific Coast of Southern Mexico

ABSTRACT In this article we report ceramic stylistic and compositional (Instrumental Neutron Activation-INAA) data from two Early Formative Period (3,400–2,800 cal yrs. BP) coastal sites from the Acapetahua region of southern Mexico, datasets potentially sensitive to the study of the exchange of ideas and materials. Gourd-shaped vessels (tecomates) with red slips dominate the earliest ceramic assemblages at the two sites. The compositional comparison of these early ceramics with reference clay samples indicates that this pottery was manufactured locally. Grey, black, and white wares appear in the assemblage ∼3,000 cal yrs. BP and the number of serving bowls substantially increases. Most of these ceramics were also manufactured locally, but imported wares from farther south and the north from the Gulf Coast lowlands were also identified suggesting some connectivity within an emerging long-distance exchange network. Given the position of these settlements we hypothesize that the movement of people, goods and ideas was facilitated by water travel along the southern Pacific Coast of Mesoamerica.

Zgornje Radvanje, Cluster 10 – a Late Neolithic pit with a structure and smaller pits

Many hollows defined as pit houses are known from the Neo-Eneolithic period. Similar pits were also detected at the Neo-Eneolithic settlement of Zgornje Radvanje. The cluster of pits presented in this paper shows a stratigraphic sequence. One of the phases yielded a structure. Pottery forms, production and decoration are presented for each individual phase. A comparison of pottery forms and decoration with other sites indicates that the earliest pottery assemblages originate from the late Neolithic period.

REGIONALISM AND SOCIAL LANDSCAPE AS INFERRED FROM AN ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY OF POTTERY PRODUCTION IN JORDAN

In this paper, an ethnoarchaeological study of pottery from Jordan is used to highlight the importance of the context of production and technique in order to gain a better understanding of the formation of a distinct prehistoric cultural region and its social components. Stylistic differences are delimited by technological characteristics, and understanding the technological process of object-making is vital in searching for and explaining patterns in material culture. Different production units can be responsible for different pottery forms, rather than the pottery being attributed to different cultures. Moreover, the context of production has a substantial effect on the end product, which conflicts with normative interpretations of presence/absence patterns of material culture. Focusing on the social dimension of a region enables identification of the social producers and an understanding of how they can be differentiated, even when they share the same technical structures in producing material culture....

Preliminary Findings at a Late Old Kingdom Fort in South Sinai, Including the Pottery, from the 2008 Season

The 2008 excavations at Ras Budran continued exposing the late Old Kingdom fort’s courtyard, finding baking installations, deep hollows filled by ash and sand, and parts of an underlying occupation layer that may reflect earlier activity at the fort (which needs further clarification). The exploration of a suggestive “chamber” in the eastern enclosure wall revealed it to be a modern disturbance. The project also concentrated on the western “bastion,” tracing it for 20 meters and finding evidence for salt encrustations and potential storm activity along the fort’s western side; one preliminary conclusion is that the sealing of the fort’s original entryway, and the subsequent abandonment and dismantling of the fort, may have been encouraged by a poor placement of the fort too close to the Red Sea and/or possibly increasingly harsher (winter) weather ca. 2300–2200 B.C. The study also contains Rexine Hummel’s analysis of the fort’s pottery fabrics, forms, and functions.

Les Bagnoles à l’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (Vaucluse). Aspects nouveaux dans le Néolithique moyen du midi de la France

The realization of a diagnostic archaeology operation in the hamlet of Bagnoles (commune of Isle-sur-Sorgue, Vaucluse) during the summer of 2006 led to the discovery of a group of hollow structures attributable to the Middle Neolithic. Though this site is known only very partially, it already appears to be significant. Indeed, several of these closed groups of structures reveal not only an aspect of the Chassean poorly identified until now in the Midi region of France, but have also yielded pottery forms and decorations unknown in the regional Middle Neolithic.

Report on the excavations in the years 2007 and 2008 southeast of the Temple of Poseidon at Kalaureia

Archaeological material ranging in date from the Early Bronze Age to Late Antiquity was found in 2007 and 2008 in the excavations in Area H to the south and southeast of the Temple of Poseidon. Finds datable to the periods of major change in the Sanctuary—the Late Archaic and the Early Hellenistic—illuminate the character of the change. In the Late Archaic period an attempt to erect a votive column at the site was for some reason given up, and drums of large dimensions were left visible, possibly as a reminder of the failure. The construction of a monumental drain next to the Archaic peribolos of the Temple of Poseidon in the early third century BC necessitated large-scale leveling work in the area coinciding in time with the dedication of a Ptolemaic, royal statue. These types of events have a tendency to dominate in the archaeological record at the cost of periods of normalcy. Those periods are represented in the form of pottery, other artifacts and animal remains, which constitute evidence for activities that obviously did not change much over time, such as dedicating objects to the deities present in the Sanctuary and animal sacrifice with ensuing preparation and consumption of food. In this report we attempt to present the archaeological remains in accordance with the type of deposits they originate from. Also included is an appendix on the marine mollusks by Tatiana Theodoropoulou.

Four kinds of authenticity? Regarding Nicaraguan pottery in Scandinavian museums, 2006–08

ABSTRACTSince the late 1970s, ceramics producers in the Nicaraguan village of San Juan de Oriente have repeatedly transformed both the design of and the technology for making their products. Different types of Scandinavian museums exhibited the most recent form of San Juanense pottery in 2006–08, which provided me with an opportunity to reflect on the history and character of the pottery in light of my own involvement with its producers since the early 1980s. This article unpacks those reflections in terms of the discourse of authenticity that anthropologists have elaborated over the past three decades. [multiple forms of authenticity, ceramics production, artisan communities, San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua, role of anthropology, systems of value]

Comparison of the Periodization Methodologies of the Korean Bronze Age and the Japanese Yayoi Period

In this article, I will examine the research history of subdivision/periodization of Korea’s Bronze Age and Japan’s Yayoi period and compare the methodologies of the two countries. The subdivisions of the Korean Bronze Age and the Japanese Yayoi period are similar in that they set changes in pottery as the basis, but show clear differences in their contents. The subdivision of the Korean Bronze Age set at first the changes in metalware and later the changes in pottery as the standard. However, after the concept of “types” was introduced, cultural epochs became the standard. Of course, periodization is initially done using material culture including pottery, followed by cultural interpretations of other archaeological aspects. However, it can be seen as a methodological limitation. The subdivision of the Japanese Yayoi period, however, used changes in pottery as the standard since the formation of Japanese archaeology. Whether good or bad, it is said to be the most important characteristic of Japanese archaeology. Of course, the idea is that classification is not simply based on changes in pottery form but includes changes in pottery types under the concept of “model,” but is limited in its actual application.

Considering Multiscalar Approaches to Creolization Among Enslaved Laborers at Estate Bethlehem, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands

Archaeological studies of plantations need to consider the scale of the historical circumstances which shape locally circumscribed Creole processes. These circumstances range from broad generalizations down to factors operating only at the local level of the individual estate. Recent excavations at Estate Lower Bethlehem, St. Croix, Virgin Islands, have recovered an artifact assemblage from a laborer village dating from the mid-eighteenth century to the first quarter of the nineteenth century, which was situated adjacent to a previously unrecorded cemetery and a large tamarind tree. This assemblage illustrates the importance of a multiscalar approach to Creolization in two ways: an analysis of the distribution of vessel forms of European pottery and “Afro-Cruzan” earthenwares; and the identification of fragments of lead-glazed slip-decorated redware pottery produced by Moravians.

A Preliminary Report on Health and Disease in Early Lapita Skeletons, Vanuatu: Possible Biological Costs of Island Colonization

ABSTRACT The human colonization of Near Oceania has an antiquity of over 40,000 years but colonization of Remote Oceania, including Vanuatu, did not begin until around 3200–3100 BP. Just before this time a distinctive form of dentate-stamped pottery known as the Lapita style appeared in the Bismarck Archipelago northeast of the island of New Guinea. The only direct evidence of health in these Remote Oceanic settlers is their skeletal remains, but until recently only small samples of late Lapita skeletons have been found. Here we report the preliminary findings on some aspects of health of the first large sample (36 individuals) of early Lapita-associated skeletons from Teouma, Vanuatu, dated to ca. 3100–3000 BP. Dental health, trauma and degeneration of joints show they were well adapted to the rigors of island life and lived a physically active life while coping with a significant disease burden. The discovery of skeletal remains of pioneer settlers on islands is extremely rare. The Teouma sample provides insights into the possible biological cost of such a colonization and is applicable to other contexts where human migration into virgin landscapes may have demanded biological adaptation to ensure success.

Early Formative pottery trade and the evolution of Mesoamerican civilisation

Early Formative pottery trade and the evolution of Mesoamerican civilisation

Sobre la función y el significado de la cerámica campaniforme a la luz de los análisis de contenidos

Traditionally, Bell Beakers have been thought to contain alcoholic beverages which were consumed in the course of male feasting ceremonies. Recent residue analyses have shed some light on the question of their function. However, whilst beer and mead have been identified from certain examples, not all Beakers were drinking cups. Some were used as reduction pots to smelt copper ores, others have some organic residues associated with food, and still others were employed as funerary urns. Yet, while the evidence points to a diversity of uses, it is argued that an ideological connection can be observed. Beakers were probably a special form of pottery with a ritual character, related to activities that imply some kind of transformation.

Methodological Issues in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics

AbstractA recent study of Early Formative Mesoamerican pottery by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) yielded surprising results that prompted two critiques in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The INAA study indicated that the Olmec center of San Lorenzo was a major exporter of carved-incised and white pottery and that little if any pottery made elsewhere was consumed at San Lorenzo. The critiques purport to "overturn" the INAA study and demonstrate a more balanced exchange of pottery among Early Formative centers. However, the critiques rely on a series of mistaken claims and misunderstandings that are addressed here. New petrographic data on a small sample of Early Formative pottery (Stoltman et al. 2005) are potentially useful, but they do not overturn INAA of nearly 1000 pottery samples and hundreds of raw material samples.

Smokescreens in the Provenance Investigation of Early Formative Mesoamerican Ceramics

AbstractWe are glad that Sharer et al. (this issue) have dropped their original claim that the INAA data demonstrate multidirectional movement of Early Formative pottery. Beyond this, however, they offer nothing that might enhance understanding of Early Formative ceramic circulation or inspire new insights into Early Formative cultural evolution in Mesoamerica. Instead, their response contains fresh distortions, replications of mistakes made in their PNAS articles, and lengthy passages that are irrelevant to the issues raised by Neff et al. (this issue). We correct and recorrect their latest distortions and misunderstandings here. Besides showing why their discussion of ceramic sourcing repeatedly misses the mark, we also correct a number of erroneous assertions about the archaeology of Olmec San Lorenzo. New evidence deepens understanding of Early Formative Mesoamerica but requires that some researchers discard cherished beliefs.

On the Logic of Archaeological Inference: Early Formative Pottery and the Evolution of Mesoamerican Societies

AbstractThe 2005 articles by Stoltman et al. and Flannery et al. to which Neff et al. (this issue) have responded are not an indictment of instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) but, rather, of the way Blomster et al. (2005) misuse it and of the hyperbolic culture-historical claims they have made from their INAA results. It has long been acknowledged that INAA leads not to sources but to chemical composition groups. Based on composition groups derived from an extremely unsystematic collection of sherds from only seven localities, Blomster et al. claim that the Olmec received no carved gray or kaolin white pottery from other regions; they also claim that neighboring valleys in the Mexican highlands did not exchange such pottery with each other. Not only can one not leap directly from the elements in potsherds to such sweeping culture-historical conclusions, it is also the case that other lines of evidence (including petrographic analysis) have for 40+ years produced empirical evidence to the contrary. In the end, it was their commitment to an unfalsifiable model of Olmec superiority that led Blomster et al. to bypass the logic of archaeological inference.