Domestic Ceramic Production and Spatial Organization: A Mexican Case Study in Ethnoarchaeology (New Studies in Archaeology) - Softcover

Arnold III, Philip J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521545838 ISBN 13: 9780521545839

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2010

Synopsis

This pioneering ethnoarchaeological study is of contemporary ceramic production and consumption in several villages in the Los Tuxtlas region of Mexico. While many archaeologists have identified ceramic production zones in the archaeological record, their identifying criteria have often been vague and impressionistic. The present book's contribution is to use ethnographic research to suggest how archaeologists might consistently recognise ceramic manufacturing. It also places ceramic production in larger cultural contexts and provides details of the ecology, production, distribution, use, discard, and site formation processes. Philip Arnold's critical observations on some of the serious weaknesses in archaeological interpretations of ceramic production will interest Mesoamericanists and all other archaeologists grappling with these, and related, issues.

About this title

Review

'Philip Arnold clearly demonstrates how contemporary data can assist scholars in recognizing the archaeological evidence of ceramic manufacture. His work is worthy of emulation.' Man

Book Description

This ethnoarchaeological study looks at contemporary household-scale ceramic production in several Mexican communities. Many archaeologists have investigated ceramic production in the archaeological record, but their identifying criteria are often vague and impressionistic. Philip Arnold pinpoints some of the weaknesses of their interpretations and uses ethnographic research to suggest how archaeologists might consistently recognise ceramic manufacturing.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521545838
• ISBN 13: 9780521545839
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 196