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An Analytic Strategy for Studying Assemblage-Scale Ceramic Variation: A Case Study from Southeast Missouri

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Patrice A. Teltser
Patrice A. Teltser*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Traditional Technology, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721
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Abstract

For ceramic assemblages composed exclusively of sherds, inferences at the scale of artifact are often problematic. Drawing on information provided by experimental studies, observations can be made such that technology and use are expressed at the scale of assemblage. A simple classification is used to describe variation in paste composition for an assemblage of shell-tempered ceramics from southeast Missouri. Using these classes as a set of analytic units, variables reflecting on technology and use are examined. The analytic results suggest that while some coarse-shell ceramics may have been used preferentially for cooking vessels, the distinction between coarse and fine shell is not as straightforward as cooking vs. noncooking, and that coarse-shell pastes were used to manufacture vessels used in a wider range of contexts than fine-shell pastes. Furthermore, not all variation can be understood in terms of the mechanical or thermal properties usually emphasized in experimental studies.

Resumen

Resumen

Para la reconstrucción de conjuntos cerámicos compuestos exclusivamente de tiestos, las deducciones a escala del artefacto muchas veces presentan problemas. Basándose en informaciones proporcionadas por estudios experimentales, las observaciones pueden ser hechas de tal manera que la tecnología y el uso estén expresados a escala del conjunto. Se puede usar una simple clasificación para describir la variación en la composición de la pasta en un conjunto de cerámica con antiplastico de concha de la región del sureste de Misuri. Usando estas clases como un conjunto de unidades analíticas, se pueden examinar las variantes reflejadas en la tecnología y en el uso. Los resultados analíticos sugieren que mientras algunos ejemplos de cerámica con concha molida gruesa se haya usado de preferencia para vasijas de cocina, la distinción entre la concha fina y gruesa no es tan definida como las vasijas de cocina vs. las de servir, y que las pastas con concha molida gruesa se utilizaron en la fabricación de vasijas con un mayor rango defunciones que aquellas hechas de pasta concha molida fina. Además, no todas las variaciones se pueden entender en términos de las propiedades mecánicas o termales, generalmente ponderadas en estudios experimentales.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 58 , Issue 3 , July 1993 , pp. 530 - 543
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1993

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