Decoding Prehistoric Ceramics
Edited by Ben Nelson
Within a very short time there have been remarkable changes in the practice of ceramic analysis in the United States. Although technical changes such as the growing use of quantitative methods are widespread, of perhaps more importance is an array of propositions that deals with the cultural causes of ceramic variation, and it provides the focus of this book.
The first section of the book, with chapters by Graves, Kintigh, Washburn and Matson, Brunson, and Braun, is focused on “ceramic sociology.” The papers by Stark and Feinman in the second part treat the organization of ceramic production. The third part, with papers by Froese, Plog, Smith and Nelson, is concerned with problems of measurement and classification in an effort to understand the systematic role of pottery.
In part four, titled “Further Lessons from Ethnoarchaeology,” Loungacre, DeBoer and Hardin continue the use of ethnoarchaeological observations established in earlier chapters to provide us with fresh prospects for understanding ceramics through ethnoarchaeology.
Bio
Ben Nelson is a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. His research focuses on cycles of social complexity and connectivity among the ancient cultures of northwestern Mexico and the American Southwest, on human roles in and responses to the desertification of grasslands in those regions, and on relating archaeology to indigenous cultures of the present day.
