Abstract: With the growth in ceramic studies during the last 20 years, it is perhaps inevitable that interest would eventually expand to describing and explaining the development of pottery in antiquity. As both description and synthesis of this worldwide phenomenon, The Emet;gence of Pottery represents a significant leap forward. It is probably one of the most important books on archaeological ceramics to appear in recent years. The volume largely consists of symposium papers from two Society for American Archaeology meetings which \"brought together researchers who were developing theories about early pottery that went far beyond traditional culture history or functionalist interpretations to seek economic, political and even individual factors behind the initial emergence of this singularly important technology\" [po xvii]. 349

Abstract: This comprehensive survey of Etruscan civilization - from its origin in the Villanovan Iron Age in the ninth century B.C. to its absorption by Rome in the first century B.C. - combines well-known aspects of the Etruscan world with new discoveries and fresh insights into the role of women in Etruscan society. In addition, the Etruscans are contrasted to the Greeks, whom they often emulated, and to the Romans, who at once admired and disdained them. The result is a compelling and complete picture of a people and a culture. This in-depth examination of Etruria examines how differing access to mineral wealth, trade routes, and agricultural land led to distinct regional variations. Heavily illustrated with ancient Etruscan art and cultural objects, the text is organized both chronologically and thematically, interweaving archaeological evidence, analysis of social structure, descriptions of trade and burial customs, and an examination of pottery and works of art.

Abstract: Subtitled An ethnoarchaeologica; study of pottery production, trade and use in the Andes', this study explores the role of pottery within the wider cultural setting of present-day Andean society. Sillar shows that economic, social and ritual aspects of Andean society are completely interrelated, equiring archaeology to widen its scope. Chapters consider pottery studies in archaeology, the Andean setting, households in Andean society, the production of pottery as a way of making culture material, pottery trade and exchange within the Andean economy and the use of pottery. This is an interesting study which examines a familiar subject from a more unusual perspective.

Abstract: Results of recent excavations and radiocarbon dating show that several places in Siberia and the Russian Far East, such as the Lower Amur River basin and the Transbaikal, represent independent centres of pottery invention, and all pre-date 10,000 BP. These two areas should be considered among the earliest centres of pottery origins in East Asia and the Old World. The rest of Siberia is characterized by significantly later appearance of Neolithic cultures, between c. 8000 BP and c. 4600–2600 BP.

Abstract: Petrographic examination of prehistoric Pacific potsherds in thin section allows robust distinctions to be drawn between indigenous temper sands derived from islands where sherds were collected and exotic temper sands derived from other islands, except that calcareous temper sands of reef detritus are undiagnostic of origin. Ceramic transfer or movement of ceramic raw materials from island to island can be detected because small islands serve as virtual point sources of noncalcareous terrigenous sands, and local island geology is controlled by systematic and well-known geotectonic patterns. Prehistoric Oceanian pottery was made locally on multiple islands, rather than being dispersed from a discrete number of ceramic centers, but limited ceramic transfer was widespread within nearly all island groups. As temper analysis is independent of ceramic typology, sherd tempers in common with obsidian artifacts and other manuports provide unambiguous physical evidence for migration, trade, or exchange within and between island groups.

Abstract: An understanding of small-scale population movements is essential to recent research on migration. Consideration of the technological style (processes of manufacture) of pottery, in conjunction with petrographic sourcing analyses, provides means of identifying and interpreting population movements at various scales. Diverse styles characterizes Postclassic Mimbres (A.D. 1150-early 1200s) regional reorganization in southwest New Mexico. One new style, indented corrugated pottery, is similar to northern types. Postclassic assemblages include both roughly and finely made examples, both locally produced. The finely executed vessels were made by migrants from the north and possibly by local potters who learned the northern techniques. The roughly made vessels were produced by local potters who copied the technique. The rough and fine vessels are found in the same contexts, suggesting no spatial or temporal differentiation. Thus in-migration to the eastern Mimbres area involved individuals or small groups who j...

Abstract: Abstract During the Bronze Age, Vesuvius had a Plinian eruption whose deposits are known as the Avellino Pumice. The eruption spread a blanket of white and grey pumice across southern Italy, and there was a severe impact on proximal areas. Assessment of volcanological factors for the Plinian phase gives intensities of 5.7 × 107 kg s−1 for the white pumice phase and 1.7 × 108 kg s−1 for the grey pumice phase, corresponding to column heights of 23 and 31 km, respectively. Volume (magnitude) calculations using the crystal concentration method (CCM) give respectively 0.32 and 1.25 km3 of deposit, in a total minimum period of about 3 h. Archaeometric studies on Bronze Age domestic pottery from several settlements in Apulia (SE Italy) reveal the presence of pumice fragments mixed with the clay, and petrological and chemical criteria suggest that these pumices are from the Avellino eruption. This relationship allows us to fix precise correlations between different archaeological facies of the Italian Bronze Age. To explore the possibility of an extensive use of pumices in these distal regions (about 140 km from Vesuvius), we calculated the possible thickness of the tephra blanket. We propose a method to extrapolate proximal data on the deposit to calculate its minimum distal thickness. Such a method could also be used in volcanic hazard studies to assess the distal impact of large past eruptions.

Abstract: Subtitled An ethnoarchaeologica; study of pottery production, trade and use in the Andes', this study explores the role of pottery within the wider cultural setting of present-day Andean society. Sillar shows that economic, social and ritual aspects of Andean society are completely interrelated, equiring archaeology to widen its scope. Chapters consider pottery studies in archaeology, the Andean setting, households in Andean society, the production of pottery as a way of making culture material, pottery trade and exchange within the Andean economy and the use of pottery. This is an interesting study which examines a familiar subject from a more unusual perspective.

Abstract: Pottery is one of the oldest and wost widespread arts practised by human kind and its history can traced back to the Stone Age. Changes in styles and types occurred in response to changing social, economic and technical demands. This account of the history of pottery begins with the early civilizations of the Near and Middle East and traces the production of ceramics throughout the cultures of the globe, from the Mediterranean and the Orient to Islam and ancient America, from neolithic Britain to Wedgewood and de Morgan, from 20th-century Africa and India to Scandanavia and Australia, with a final chapter on the newest work of studio potters today. The illustrations provide representative examples of the major styles, materials and forms of all periods, allowing the reader to make comparisons and see relationships between the works of cultures which may be widely separated in space and time.

Abstract: "A pot may mean that I, as the ancient owner of this vessel, belong to this group and believe to these things; that I have this level of wealth, and this much status. I am also of a specific sex and perform these labours defined by my sex, and this vessel correlates with this sex and this status." So much was argued by James F. Strange in 1989 , reasserting in elementary but clear terms the idea that pottery artefacts represent not only one of the major elements in the material culture of a given group, but also a means by which the group and individuals exchange information and express, although not necessarily settle, problems of a social nature 2 • To grasp the symbolic significance attributed to certain classes of vessels within a community sharing one and the same culture it is first necessary to single out the formative elements behind the pottery system they belong to, and then go on to reconstruct the basic features and variability of the model itself3. For the final stage of this sequence a to some extent consequent -

Abstract: Dating of later prehistoric settlements relies heavily on potter; typologies in England and yet there has been little scientific dating in order to verify these typologies. In this work, luminescence dating techniques were applied directly to the pottery which forms the typological framework. Excellent agreement was obtained between the luminescence ages, and archaeological age ranges for known-age pottery sherds with diagnostic form and surface decoration. A lower correlation, however, was found in several regions between the luminescence ages for undecorated body sherds and the archaeological assessment which was necessarily based solely on fabric, suggesting the need for reassessment of these fabric chronologies.

Abstract: Remains of a prehistoric timber roundhouse were identified on a proposed development site in 1992 by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (GUARD). In accordance with planning conditions an archaeological excavation by AOC Archaeology was undertaken in 1998, on behalf of Redrow Homes (Scotland) Ltd. Subsequent excavation of a small extension to the main area of investigation was funded by Historic Scotland. The excavation identified the remains of at least two timber roundhouses, one of which was dated to the mid second millennium bc. The site also contained a Neolithic structure and series of pits, some of which contained fragments of Grooved Ware pottery.

Abstract: Introduction The transition to agriculture in the western Mediterranean is associated with the first appearance of ovicaprids (Geddes 1985) and domesticated wheat and barley (Hopf 1991), species of which originated in the Near East and spread rapidly from Italy to Portugal. This period of prehistory, the Early Neolithic, is primarily identified in the archaeological record by the presence of stylistically uniform wares, such as Cardial or Impressa pottery, domesticated plants and animals, and the use of obsidian and ground stone (Guilaine 1976). Studies of these materials indicate that significant transformations in economy and society began to take shape at this time. Many of these changes do not, however, appear to manifest themselves in terms of dependence on agro-pastoral products or larger village settlements until the Middle Neolithic around a thousand years later (Guilaine 1976). The nature of the agricultural transition in the western Mediterranean has proved, therefore, an interpretative challenge as it represents the rapid appearance but slow assimilation of production-based economies among emergent agricultural societies (cf. Zvelebil 1986c). By the 1960s, investigations of the first European agricultural societies had shifted in focus from culture historical studies of artifacts to economic and ecological studies based on environmental and subsistence data. Models constructed to interpret these data have been concerned with the relationships between humans and their non-human physical environment, that is to say “nature.” This is a logical connection as Neolithic farming represented new subsistence relationships with plants and animals. Sedentary agriculture implied new types of interactions between man and the physical landscape that had not existed in previous foraging societies.

Abstract: In addition to presenting an Attic ceramic deposit of the Late Hellenistic period, the author connects the increase of imported pottery and local imitations in assemblages of the late 2nd and early 1st centuries B.C. with contemporary changes in Athenian society. During this period the emerging political elite ofAthens developed strong commercial interests and foreign contacts that may have led to changes in dining practices (e.g., the introduction of foreign metal shapes). Emulation of these cosmopolitan practices may have encouraged importation of foreign pottery-presumably skeuomorphs of metal vessels-and provided the impetus for Attic ceramic imitation of imported metalware. The aim of the present paper is twofold: to contribute to the study of Attic pottery in the Late Hellenistic period by adding one more deposit to the rather small published corpus from this period and, most importantly, to view Attic Hellenistic pottery in its wider historical context. I am particularly concerned with the significance of pottery as an indicator of social and economic change in Late Hellenistic Athens.1 A LATE HELLENISTIC DEPOSIT FROM THE SOUTH SLOPE OF THE ACROPOLIS

Abstract: Numerous large, well-dated 18th- to 19th-century closed assemblages of domestic pottery, glass and other artefacts have recently been excavated in the London area. Discarded as a single deposit, these ‘clearance groups’ offer an invaluable opportunity to compare individual establishments across the social spectrum, allowing the evolving role of ceramics in a rapidly developing consumer society to be traced. This article is concerned particularly with clearances from inns and taverns, focusing on a fine assemblage of pottery, glass and clay pipes from the site of the King’s Arms in Uxbridge, deposited c. 1785–1800. The range of finds recovered, their sources and function, and their contribution to our understanding of inn society are discussed and comparison is made with clearances from other victualling establishments and households in London, Guildford, Leicester and the American colonies, examining in particular the availability of ceramics, choice, taste, social status and function, as demonstr...

Abstract: The lack of botanical remains from farming sites in Africa remains a serious archaeological problem. This paper discusses how the indirect evidence of pottery may help to evaluate grain farming in African archaeology.

Abstract: A 2.5 ha open area excavation at South Hornchurch, Essex (London Borough of Havering) has revealed an extensive Late Bronze Age settlement on the Thames terrace gravels. The site is particularly significant because of the association of a circular ditched enclosure or ringwork with a contemporary field system, as well as clusters of enclosed and unenclosed circular structures. Two enclosures were formed by rings of pits or large post-holes. Placed pottery deposits and unurned cremation burials were found, mostly associated with structures and entranceways. Other finds include both plain and decorated Post Deverel-Rinibury pottery, burnt flint, spindle whorls, possible loomweights, perforated clay slabs, and a bivalve clay sword mould. The entire site was subsequently sealed by a buried colluvial ploughsoil which almost certainly represents the final phase of Late Bronze Age activity. The site's spatial structure, environmental context, and regional significance are discussed.

Abstract: L' evolution des fours de potiers au Proche-Orient pendant le Neolithique et le Chalcolithique est presentee dans le but de susciter des etudes plus fines des fours. Dans le contexte des debuts de la pyrotechnologie sont posees differentes questions portant sur les aspects techniques, economiques et sociaux de la construction et de l'utilisation des fours de potier.

Abstract: This article presents a preliminary report on the post-excavation analysis of excavations conducted between 1985 and 1992 by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Garyunis (Benghazi) at the ancient city of Tocra. The construction and design of the buildings excavated are analysed, with particular emphasis on the late antique phases; and descriptions of pottery, other artefacts (including two early Islamic coins) are given. The area appears to have been an artisan district, as evidenced by the finds of a pottery kiln, ovens, vats and other structures associated with manufacturing activities. Mortar and plaster samples were analysed to help phase the structures, and to compare the excavated vats with their counterparts at another site within the city. A limited study of the faunal remains gives some insight into diet at the site in late antiquity.The study shows clearly that Tocra remained inhabited after the Arab conquest (AD 640s), confirming suggestions of previous excavations at other sites within the city wall.

Abstract: A detailed study of a pottery deposit found during investigations on the Palatine Hill. This material was used and discarded during the period c.AD 290-315, at a time when a number of reforms were underway in light of the early years of the new imperial system and associated changes in economic organisation. The six campaigns of excavation, between 1989 and 1994, revealed a substantial quantity of material which is presented here. A general introduction to the urban economy of the time is followed by an in-depth analysis of the ceramic material.

Abstract: By analyzing the pottery found at a well-known archaeological site, Hilgeman constructs the long-awaited timeline for the rise and decline of this ancient society.Located near present-day Evansville, Indiana, the Angel site is one of the important archaeological towns associated with prehistoric Mississippian society. More than two million artifacts were collected from this site during excavations from 1939 to 1989, but, until now, no systematic survey of the pottery sherds had been conducted. This volume, documenting the first in-depth analysis of Angel site pottery, also provides scholars of Mississippian culture with a chronology of this important site. Angel is generally thought to have been occupied from before A.D. 1200 to 1450, but scholars have been forced to treat this period as one chronological unit without any sense of the growth and decline of the society that occupied it. Using radiocarbon assays and an analysis of its morphological and stylistic attributes of pottery, Sherri Hilgeman is able to divide the occupation of Angel into a series of recognizable stages. She then correlates those stages with similar ones at other archaeological excavations especially nearby Kincaid making it possible to compare Angel society with other native cultures of the lower Ohio Valley. Through this important contribution to native pottery studies, Hilgeman opens a window into the lifeways of prehistoric Angel society and places that society in the larger context of Mississippian culture. "

Abstract: Japan is one of the few countries in the world where ceramics are widely acknowledgedasamajorart form,and famouspots andpotters alike command national respect and admiration. While much of this attention is directed at native pottery traditions, there has long been a special subculture of interest in the ceramic art of Korea. Japanese fascination with Korean ceramics is centuries old and can be traced back reliably to the late medieval period, if not before. Yet the specific character of late-twentieth-century Japanese appreciation of Korean ceramics owes a great deal to much more recent history. In particular, only in the 1920s and 1930s did certain categories of the pottery and porcelain of Korea’s Chosŏn period (1392–1910) begin to achieve the special status they retain in Japan today. Yi dynasty (Ri chō) wares, as these objects are known in Japan, have a peculiar, almost cultlike following among Japanese collectors and aesthetes that persists into the present. As one collector has noted, there are those who go so far as to assert

Abstract: This work is mainly based on the analysis of Basque Iron Age pottery from two different perspectives: 1) The study of pottery technology as a means of characterizing distinct technological groups. 2) The study of pottery technology in chronological perspective (from Middle-Late Bronze Age to the Romanization) as a way to assess pottery making evolution. Probable raw clay sources from some archaeological sites have been also studied. Such approach has provided data useful for reconstructing pottery production processes and their socio-economic implications. The study comprises pottery assemblages from Phase V of Monte Aguilar, starting at sixteenth century B.C. (Bardenas Reales, Navarral, to early appearance of Roman ceramics in the archaeological site of Berreaga (Bizkaia) around the first century A.D. As far as the geographical background is concerned, the term Basque Country Protohistory is fairly equivalent to Euskal Herria Protohistory. The euskera-speaking region is composed of the following territories: Navarra, the Basque Country, and the three euskera-speaking provinces comprised in the French Department of the Atlantic Pyrenees. A total of 320 pottery samples from 50 representative archaeological sites were analyzed. Because of technical constraints, samples from Cortes de Navarra (Navarra) and Atxa (Alava) were not analyzed Pottery from recent systematic surveys was also included All samples were thin-sectioned and subjected to petrographic analysis. The mineralogical composition of both single and polymineral inclusions present in ceramic pastes was determined by means of a petrographic microscope. Additionally, other aspects related to pottery making (e.g. paste texture, type of clay, deliberate addition of temper, mix of clays, pottery finishing methods) were also approached. In order to provide a general spatial view, the petrographic results (see Appendix II for each sample) have been grouped by site type and geographical location Under advant

Abstract: This article presents a stylistic assessment of the pottery from early tests (1900–1905) at Knossos that may be assigned to EM I. There follows a discussion of the problems of ceramic phasing of EM I Knossos and the relative chronology of Central Crete with the South Aegean in EB I. Finally, the social context of ceramic consumption at EM I Knossos and North-Central Crete is explored, and the possible evidence this may provide for ritualised social practice at Knossos and emergent social differentiation and power.

Abstract: In the course of an archaeological project in the southern Chad Basin of Nigeria, excavations were conducted at several deeply stratified mound sites that date from the Late Neolithic to the Late Iron Age. As a way to complement the ceramic sequence obtained so far and to link it with today's pottery tradition, a small excavation was conducted at a site that dates to the turn of the nineteenth to the twentieth century A.D. A pottery assemblage was discovered that shows obvious links to today's tradition but notable breaks with those of the nineteenth century and earlier. This break in decoration style and technique is interpreted as an archaeologically visible expression of changing ethnic identity. This ethnic change and the associated spread of the ceramic tradition can be linked with the expansion of the sphere of power of the Kanem-Borno Empire into the area south of Lake Chad after the sixteenth century A.D.