Pottery Function: A Use-Alteration Perspective

208 Pages·1992·22.38 MB·English

by  James M. Skibo (auth.)

Pottery Function
A Use-Alteration
Perspective
INTERDISCIPLINARY CONTRIBUTIONS
TO ARCHAEOLOGY
Series Editor: Michael Jochim, University of California, Santa Barbara
Founding Editor: Roy S. Dickens, Jr., Late of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Editorial Board: Lewis R. Binford, Southern Methodist University • Jane E. Buikstra,
University of Chicago • Charles M. Hudson, University of Georgia •
Stephen A. Kowalewski, University of Georgia • William L. Rathje,
University of Arizona • Stanley South, University of South Carolina •
Bruce Winterhalder, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill •
Richard A. Yarnell, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST AND MESOAMERICA
Systems of Prehistoric Exchange
Edited by Jonathon E. Ericson and Timothy G. Baugh
ECOLOGY AND HUMAN ORGANIZATION ON THE GREAT PLAINS
Douglas B. Bamforth
ETHNOHISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY
Approaches to Post-Contact Change in. the Americas
Edited by J. Daniel Rogers and Samuel M. Wilson
FROM KOSTENKI TO CLOVIS
Upper Paleolithic-Paleo indian Adaptations
Edited by Olga Soffer and N. D. Praslov
HOLOCENE HUMAN ECOLOGY IN NORTHEASTERN NORTH AMERICA
Edited by George P. Nicholas
HUNTER~ATHERERS
Archaeological and Evolutionary Theory
Robert L. Bettinger
THE INTERPRETATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPATIAL PATTERNING
Edited by Ellen M. Kroll and T. Douglas Price
THE PLEISTOCENE OLD WORLD: Regional Perspectives
Edited by Olga Soffer
POTTERY FUNCTION
A Use-Alteration Perspective
James M. Skibo
RESOURCES, POWER, AND INTERREGIONAL INTERACTION
Edited by Edward M. Schortman and Patricia A. Urban
SPACE, TIME, AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES
Edited by Jacqueline Rossignol and LuAnn Wandsnider
Pottery Function
A Use-Alteration
Perspective
JAMES M. SKIBO
fllinois State University
Normal, fllinois
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sktbo, James M.
Pottery function : a use-alteratton perspective / Jaaes M. Sklbo.
p. ca. — (Interdisciplinary contributions to archaeology)
Includes bibliographical references and Index.
1. Kallnga (Philippine people)—Anttqu1t1es. 2. Pottery-
-Phlllpplnes—Gulnaang—Theaes, motives. 3. Pottery—PhlUppmes-
-Gulnaang—Analysis. 4. Ethnoarchaeology—Philippines—Gulnaang.
6. Gulnaang (Philippines)—Antiquities. 6. Phlltpplnes-
-Antlqultles. I. Title. II. Series.
DS666.K3S55 1992
959.9--dc20 92-13591
CIP
ISBN 978-1-4899-1181-0 ISBN 978-1-4899-1179-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-1179-7
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1992
Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1992
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1992
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming,
recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher
Foreword
There are many ways to study pots or the sherds of pots. In this book
James Skibo has focused on the surface wear and tear found on the
resin-coated, low-fired cooking pots of the Kalinga people in north
western Luzon. This detailed analysis is part of a much larger evalua
tion of Kalinga pottery production and use by the staff members and
students at the University of Arizona that has been underway since 1972.
Here he has analyzed the variants among the possible residual clues on
pots that have endured the stresses of having been used for cooking meat
and vegetables or rice; standing on supports in the hearth fire; wall
scrapings while distributing the food; being transported to the water
source for thorough washing and scrubbing; followed by storage until
needed again-a repetitive pattern of use. This well-controlled study
made use of new pots provided for cooking purposes to one Kalinga
household, as well as those pots carefully observed in other households--
189 pots in all. Such an ethnoarchaeological approach is not unlike
follOwing the course of the firing of a kiln-load of pots in other cultures,
and then purchasing the entire product of this firing for analysis. Other
important aspects of this Kalinga study are the chemical analysis of
extracts from the ware to deduce the nature of the food cooked in them,
and the experimental study of soot deposited on cooking vessels when
they are in use.
This volume is specifically addressed to archaeologists working with
low-fired wares. It is obvious that those working in geolOgical and cul
tural areas other than Luzon must review this report in terms of their own
v
vi FOREWORD
problems. For instance, there are great differences in the working and
firing behavior of clays in many parts of the world. Thermal alteration of
the bits of limestone that occurs in many clays can result in disastrous
spalling, quite different in cause and appearance from the steam-induced
spalls reported by Skibo in his essentially lime-free clay. The nature of an
intermittent or continuous reducing or oxidizing atmosphere during fir
ing must also be kept in mind as well as the type of clay and fuel when
studying soot deposits and carbon cores. Potters can have great flexibility
in their methods of ware production and these are often influenced by
social constraints. For instance, the death of a potter, the nature of the
cooperating household, the products of children with their small hands,
the time demands of compulsory schooling today, and economic im
peratives such as the cost of fuel and clay procurement, heavy rains, or
changes in market demands, can quickly alter production techniques and
even vessel shapes and sizes. More elusive aspects such as consumers'
attitudes toward the potters and the products of competitive villages--
"the food (or water) doesn't taste right" from certain wares when pur
chases are made in the market-must be kept in mind. It is obvious, but
perhaps needs stating, that ceramic archaeologists must collaborate with
colleagues knowledgeable in the technological aspects of clay properties
when making their deductions or assumptions, let alone their interpreta
tions. It is also helpful when they listen to the comments of their local
village workmen with respect to the uses of the vessels they unearth.
Skibo is indeed fortunate in being a key member of a broadly based
ceramic team. The breadth of its interests can be quickly seen in a recent
study (Longacre, Skibo, and Stark 1991).
Potsherds have served as the eqUivalent of laboratory animals in the
study of past cultures and civilizations. The shapes and sizes of vessels,
together with their decoration applied in so many different ways, have
long been used as indicators of cultural change, foreign influence or
trade, technological development, and so forth without diminishing their
appeal as artistic objects for exhibit in museums. Beginning in the 1920s,
perhaps a little earlier, the less than perfect or attractive vessels and
sherds, possibly cooking pots, that had been retained by the excavators
began to receive more attention. The ways in which they were studied
differed with the investigators and with the nature of the materials exca
vated. The ceramic problems being addressed greatly influenced the
extent of the analyses. Skibo's study demonstrates that there are still new
FOREWORD vii
approaches that can be undertaken in pottery analyses, in this case of the
usually neglected cooking pots that have seen much use and abuse.
As archaeologists we should give more care as to how our potsherds
are retrieved and cleaned so as to preserve clues found in marks of
abrasion and attrition. Low-fired sherds long buried in moist soils fre
quently have soft surfaces that are easily scratched by scrubbing brushes.
Yet when such sherds are allowed to dry in the sun before being washed
they harden permanently and do not soften in the scrub water. This
reaction of low-fired clay, partial rehydration during long burial with
some resumption of its original colloidal properties followed by a semi
permanent set when again dry, is fascinating but is archaeologically
dangerous. Soft surfaces can be altered when cleaned, and decorative
pigment may be removed. Some of us working at early sites in the
Near East, where red-slipped and red-decorated pottery occurs, tell those
washing the ware, "If you see blood in the wash water, STOP!" For
one using pots and sherds when searching for information about an
cient food preparation, diets, agricultural practices, deforestation, and
so forth, it is essential that adequate control be exercised over local
workmen and students who clean the pottery first in the field and
again in the laboratory.
It is fascinating and satisfying to observe the newer interest of
students of ancient pottery, now often rightly termed ceramic ethno
archaeologists, as they continue to use their materials to reconstruct life
in the past in its physical and social aspects. They are often aided when
they take the time to study local pottery; brick, and roof tile production
in the region in which they are working. We can always learn and apply
concepts or archaeometric approaches used by colleagues working in
other geographic and time regions, particularly if our cultural blinders do
not hinder broader bibliographic ceramic interests. I hope that Skibo);
work will be of use to those who are studying potters still working within
their craft traditions even though they sell their shape-modified wares to
tourists. Archaeologists, I trust, can become better aware of the potential
value of the close study of their cooking pots. I know that in my
continuing studies of low-fired pottery used in the early village-farming
communities of the Near East during the seventh and sixth millennia
B.C.E. I shall now approach my sherds with new questions, and I hope
look at them constructively in more meticulous detail.
There may be still unexplored ways in which pottery can be used to
viii FOREWORD
learn more about humans. It has been observed that pots are fragile
but potsherds last forever. I wonder how our successors will make bet
ter use of them?
FREDERICK R. MATSON
Research Professor Emeritus of Archaeology
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
Preface
Beginning in 1987, ethnoarchaeological research among the Kalinga was
resumed under the direction of William A. Longacre. This provided me
with the opportunity to see pottery in use and to observe some of the
processes that previously I had only been able to infer from excavation
or through experimentation. The experience changed forever the way I
look at archaeological material.
Because only a few archaeologists are able to perform research
among living groups, it is imperative that we ethnoarchaeologists re
port our findings in a way that will be of some use to those left to
draw inferences from buried sherds and trash middens. This is not al
ways easy. Too often, ethnoarchaeological data and information recovered
from excavation are incompatible. There is often a disjunction between
units of analysis and observation in prehistory and ethnoarchaeology.
Although the prehistorian can do much to alleviate this problem, it is
the objective of this study-and indeed the entire Kalinga Ethnoarchae
ological Project-to provide information that will be of direct use to
many archaeologists.
A pottery use-alteration study, I believe, is one area that can have
direct application to archaeolOgical material. A major inspiration for
this project is the weak link in many archaeological inferences based
on pottery: Too often there is little or no information about how the
pottery was used.
In all of archaeology, we are wont to create often grandiose scenar
ios based on variability or change of various pottery attributes, but we
make many of these inferences on very soft footing. It is difficult-if not
ix