Materiality, techniques and society in pottery production : the technological study of archaelogical ceramics through paste analysis

338 Pages·2014·6.731 MB·English

by  Santacreu, Daniel Albero

OPEN
MD Daniel Albero Santacreu
Aa
Tn
Eie
Danaanliyesli sA albnedr osu Smanmtaacrirzeeus pmreosset notfs tah ew mideet hoovderovlioegwic oafl acenrdt atihne oarsepteicctasl oinf ftohrem paottitoenr y RIALl Alb MATERIALITY,
currently applied in archaeology in order to develop wide and deep analysis of ITer
Yo
ceramic pastes. The book provides an adequate framework for understanding , T Sa TECHNIQUES AND
the way pottery production is organised and clarifies the meaning and role of the En
Ct
pottery in archaeological and traditional societies. Hac
Nr
The goal of this book is to encourage reflection, especially by those researchers who IQeu SOCIETY IN POTTERY
face the analysis of ceramics for the first time, by providing a background for the U
E
generation of their own research and formulate their own questions depending on S
A
their concerns and interests. The three-part structure of the book allows readers N PRODUCTION
to move easily from the analysis of the reality and ceramic material culture to the D
S
world of the ideas and theories and to develop a dialogue between data and their O
C
interpretation. IE THE TECHNOLOGICAL STUDY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL
T
Y
IN CERAMICS THROUGH PASTE ANALYSIS
P
Daniel Albero Santacreu, O
is a Lecturer Assistant in the T
University of the Balearic T
E
Islands, member of the R
Research Group Arqueo UIB Y
and the Ceramic Petrology PR
Group. He has carried out O
the analysis of ceramics from D
U
several prehistoric societies
C
placed in the Western Mediterranean, as well as T
the study of handmade pottery from contem- IO
porary ethnic groups in Northeast Ghana. N
www.degruyter.com
ISBN 978-3-11-041019-8
Daniel Albero Santacreu
Materiality, Techniques and Society in Pottery Production
The Technological Study of Archaeological Ceramics through Paste Analysis

Daniel Albero Santacreu
Materiality, Techniques
and Society in Pottery
Production
The Technological Study of Archaeological Ceramics
through Paste Analysis
Managing Editor: Katarzyna Michalak
Language Editor: Jonathan Robinson
Language Consultant: Aixa Vidal
Published by De Gruyter Open Ltd, Warsaw/Berlin
Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Munich/Boston
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 license,
which means that the text may be used for non-commercial purposes, provided credit is given to the
author. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/.
Copyright © 2014 Daniel Albero Santacreu, published by De Gruyter Open
ISBN: 978-3-11-041019-8
e-ISBN: 978-3-11-041020-4
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbi-
bliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are
available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
Managing Editor: Katarzyna Michalak
Language Editor: Jonathan Robinson
Language Consultant: Aixa Vidal
www.degruyteropen.com
Cover illustration: © Konkomba potter from the Northern Region of Ghana (Source: Arqueo UIB
Research Group).
To Lucía
The mediator between brain and hands must be the heart
Metropolis, Fritz Lang & Thea von Harbou (1927)
Preface
Many uncertainties and doubts often arise when students, researchers and
professionals of archaeology start the study of the huge amount of ceramic sherds
collected in archaeological excavations. Which analytical strategies should be used?
What methodologies can be applied? What kind of results will be reached and how
can they be interpreted? These are just some issues that emerge in our daily practice as
scientists in which each question has its specific relevance in the process of analysis
of material culture. The main purpose of this book is to provide a broad overview of
the chief methods that can be followed in the study of ceramic technology and paste
analysis. The ultimate goal is to encourage the reader’s reflection, especially of those
scholars who first face the analysis of the ceramic record. The objective is to provide
them with a basic basis from which they can start to develop their own research as
well as their particular concerns and interests.
More specifically, this book aims generally to introduce the different types of
paste analyses that can be developed in archaeology as well as some of the methods
usually applied to the study of ceramics. In addition, the type of information that the
several methods provide and the different enquiries that pottery analysis deal today
will be also addressed. Archaeometric methods and techniques applied to the study
of ceramic fabrics have greatly advanced in recent decades and allow us to approach
materiality much more accurately than ever before. However, there has been also an
intense theoretical reflection on ceramic technology, especially from social theory.
This reflection has transformed the epistemological foundations of our discipline and
researchers cannot ignore it.
Previous monographs on archaeological ceramics have greatly emphasised the
role that analytical techniques and methods, as well as technical processes have in the
study and the production of ancient pottery. Thus, less attention has been paid to the
interpretative and theoretical frameworks used to explain ceramic technology. In this
book I try to keep, therefore, a more balanced approach in order to create synergies
in the discipline between theory and method. I have also highlighted the essential
role of the interpretation of material culture in scientific practice as an absolutely
necessary stage to move beyond the exhaustive collection of analytical data.
In short, the role archaeometry should play in the current studies of archaeological
ceramic pastes and fabrics is considered, as well as how we can redirect these studies
towards a goal that goes beyond the application of multiple and varied analytical
techniques. Hence, this book aims to provide some lines of thought and create a
space for reflection about how the data obtained with archaeometric techniques can
be explained through several interpretive frameworks according to the researchers’
rationales. This rationale strives to generate a deeper historical and anthropological
knowledge about individuals and societies and, in additional, to encourage reflection
on the practices that researchers develop in their daily lives.
Preface  VII
This book is structured in three separate sections, although in practice there
must exist an intense back and forth dialogue between all of them. The first section
discusses some practical issues that have to be taken into account when initiating
the study of archaeological ceramics. These issues range from designing an effective
sampling strategy that fits a series of previous questions to the various methodologies
that allow the obtainment of large datasets. In this sense, the different kinds of
analyses commonly applied in the archaeometric characterisation of ceramic
materials – understood in a broad sense and not just focused on pottery vessels – will
be discussed in depth. The idea is to make the reader acquainted with the basics of
chemical, textural, mineralogical and petrological analyses, among others. Regarding
this issue, reference is made to the main analytical techniques, procedures and
methods applied in the study of ceramic materials, including a brief section centred
on some new methods as well as others whose application is not widespread. There is
also some reflection regarding the nature of the data obtained and how they relate to
the life cycle of pottery vessels.
The second section deals with the way in which ceramic features can be related
to the use of certain materials, techniques and chaîne opératoires. This relation has its
translation into specific fabrics that ultimately allow us to approach the individuals
behind the data and the materiality. In order to discuss this topic, some key concepts
– such as technology, technique or technological choice – are introduced, placing
greater emphasis on the concept of chaîne opératoire and its relevance for the analysis
of archaeological ceramics. Hence, a detailed analysis of the multiple phases that
define the pottery production process is included. In addition, the role of experimental
archaeology and ethnoarchaeology in the study of the physical (i.e., material) and
social dimension of the techniques used in pottery production is also discussed at the
end of this section.
Finally, in the third section, I introduce the main theoretical trends usually
applied in the current interpretation of the techniques and materials identified
through paste analysis. Consequently, I focus on the way the diverse ecological,
functional and anthropological perspectives interpret ceramic technology in ancient
societies. We are going to examine in depth their foundations and basic concepts along
with a constructive assessment of their possibilities and limitations in the study of
pottery technology. Thus, we shall discuss the role of the environment, the economic
background or the function of artefacts regarding pottery production, as well as other
important phenomena such as learning processes, knowledge transmission systems
and identity issues which are closely connected to the social organization of the
potters. Finally, at the end of this section, I dedicate two chapters to the discussion of
how the organisation of pottery production and the change have been addressed in
current research.

Contents
Preface VI
Part I: Materiality, Archaeometry & Analythical Methods
1 Introduction: Ceramic Archaeometry and Paste Analysis 2
2 Sampling Strategies 5
2.1 Limitations in the Sampling Strategy 7
3 Analytical Methods 11
3.1 Textural Analysis 12
3.2 Mineralogical Analysis 18
3.3 Petrographic Analysis 22
3.3.1 Determination of Petrogroups 23
3.3.2 Archaeological Application of Petrogroups 27
3.4 Chemical Analysis 29
3.4.1 Determination of Reference Groups 32
3.4.2 Point Chemical Analyses 36
3.5 Analysis of Microstructures 37
3.6 Micropaleontological Analysis 38
3.7 Other Analytical Techniques 41
3.8 Statistical Analysis 43
4 Analytical Data and the Life Cycle of Ceramics 45
Part II: Materials, Techniques & Chaînes Opératoires
5 Techniques, Chaîne Opératoire and Technology 52
5.1 Techniques and Technological Choices 52
5.2 Introduction to the Chaîne Opératoire 53
5.3 Technology and Ceramics 56
6 Clay Selection and Procurement 60
7 Clay Extraction 65
8 Paste Preparation 67
8.1 Clay Purification 67
8.2 Temper Addition 69
8.3 Clay Mixing 75