Ceramic Petrography and Hopewell Interaction

Stoltman, James B.

ISBN 10: 0817318593 / ISBN 13: 9780817318598

Published by University Alabama Press, 2015

Unread book in perfect condition. Seller Inventory # 23402854

Synopsis:

Petrography is the minute examination by microscope of rock and mineral samples for the purpose of determining precisely their mineralogical composition. In this groundbreaking work, James B. Stoltman applies quantitative as well as qualitative methods to petrography of Native American ceramics. As explained in Ceramic Petrography and Hopewell Interaction, by adapting petrography to the study of pottery, Stoltman offers a powerful new set of tools that enable fact-based and rigorous identification of pottery.

Stoltman’s subject is the cultural interaction among the “Hopewell interaction sphere,” societies of the Ohio Valley region and contemporary peoples of the Southeast. Inferring social and commercial relationships between disparate communities by determining whether objects found in one settlement originated there or elsewhere is a foundational technique of archaeology. The technique, however, rests on the informed but necessarily imperfect visual inspection of objects by archaeologists. Petrography greatly amplifies archaeologists’ ability to determine objects’ provenance with greater precision and less guesswork.

Using petrography to study a vast quantity of pottery samples sourced from Hopewell communities, Stoltman is able for the first time to establish which items are local, which are local but atypical, and which originated elsewhere. Another exciting possibility with petrography is to further determine the home source of objects that came from afar. Thus, combining traditional qualitative techniques with a wealth of new quantitative data, Ceramic Petrography and Hopewell Interaction offers a map of social and trade relationships between communities within and beyond the Hopewell interaction sphere with much greater precision and confidence than in the past.

Ceramic Petrography and Hopewell Interaction provides a clear and concise explanation of petrographic methods, Stoltman’s findings about Hopewell and Southeastern ceramics in various sites, and the fascinating discovery that visits to Hopewell centers by Southeastern Native Americans were not only for trade purposes but more for such purposes as pilgrimages, vision- and power-questing, healing, and the acquisition of knowledge.

About the Author: James B. Stoltman is a leading expert on the prehistory of the Midwest, USA. He is the author of Laurel Culture in Minnesota and Groton Plantation: An Archaeological Study of a South Carolina Locality and the editor of New Perspectives on Cahokia: Views from the Periphery. He has also written numerous research articles and reviews and served as president of the Wisconsin Archaeological Society and Wisconsin Archaeological Survey, USA.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Ceramic Petrography and Hopewell Interaction
Publisher: University Alabama Press
Publication Date: 2015
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: As New