Mary Ownby & Isabelle DrucTitles and abstracts of the presentations can be viewed here: PDF. This wonderful session, the fifth to be sponsored by the Ceramic Petrographers in the Americas group, included eight fascinating papers. The central theme of the session was looking globally at how petrographic studies are shedding light on ceramic traditions and their developments. Specifically, the chaîne opératoire, or the chain of production, approach was advocated by the session organizers, Domenique Sorresso and Anthony Farace, to outline the various steps in pottery manufacture for particular case studies. The first paper was by Domenique Sorresso and colleagues on potting traditions in the Nashville Basin. Petrographic analysis revealed paste differences while the general approach to making vessels was fairly similar. The second paper by Anthony Farace examined Ramey Incised jars at sites in the upper Central Mississippi River Valley. The fabric and technology of these vessels was clarified petrographically and compared to local utilitarian pottery to identify any unique characteristics indicative of their significance. The third paper by Kari Schleher and colleagues focused on the impacts of Spanish interaction on Pueblo (New Mexico) pottery technology. The thin section study examined if decorated pottery production was drifting more towards expediency under the influence of various types of Spanish intervention (religious or military).
The fourth paper by Genevieve Woodhead studied white ware ceramics from northwestern New Mexico through decorative and compositional (petrographic and SEM) analyses. The initial examination highlights how pottery making can be affected by political changes in a borderland region where identity making through decoration becomes paramount. The fifth paper by Karleen Ronsairo studied clays in the Nochixtlán Valley of Mexico during early urbanization. The petrographic data revealed a consistent use of clays despite vessel form variations and socio-political changes through time. The sixth paper by Anna Cohen also focused on potting communities in Mexico, but on imperial style vessels made during the Postclassic period. Examination of thin sections revealed that several areas were making these iconic vessels and their use of specific raw materials did not change over 1,000 years. The seventh paper by Ximena Villagran and colleagues examined organic inclusions in Amazonian ceramics. The petrographic results revealed a nearly 3,000-year tradition of using a specific recipe of clay and sponge spicules to make Bacabal pottery. The eighth paper by Mary Ownby and Fiona Kidd discussed the thin section study of Iron Age pottery from Bash Tepa, Uzbekistan. The analysis highlighted a related set of raw materials used to make much of the pottery. All of these interesting case studies highlight both the robust nature of ceramic petrography as a field and the diversity of research questions that can be addressed through such data. Further, the “ceramic petrographer” is really a project managing investigator that must blend a diversity of evidence at multiple scales. From understanding what is seen in a thin section to characterizing ceramic production within the context of a specific culture at a particular time. That ability to relate the description of a clay paste, the choice of raw materials (including geological knowledge) and how they were manipulated (technological features at the scale of the vessel), into a coherent understanding of the structure of this craft is not an easy task. However, these researchers, some in the early stages, show a remarkable ability to assimilate the information from many lines of evidence into clarifying a past culture, its relation to other people, changes over time, negotiated identity, economic mechanisms, and political machinations. Though many studies have highlighted the conservative tendencies for clay choice, they have shown the dynamics of the entire chaîne opératoire and how each one is culturally embedded.
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We are thrilled to announce that a new book is now available from one of our group members, Isabelle Druc, that is titled Ceramic Materials in Archaeology . The book is available through Deep Education Press in both print and PDF format. See below for more information and links to purchase a copy for yourself! Ceramic Materials in Archaeology by Dr. Isabelle C. Druc and Dr. Bruce Velde The aim of this book is to introduce students in archaeology -and others interested- to the materials that form ancient ceramics, their nature and function. It is by studying the ceramic materials, the minerals, rocks, clays, and ways they have been modified for the production of ceramics that their use by potters through the ages can be explained. It allows us a better understanding of the potter's behavior and the influences on his or her craft. The book details clay, mineral and rock formations, basic geology principles, types of analyses conducted to study raw materials, and the different processes involved in making pottery. It describes the different attributes of a ceramic paste, and the different scales one can look at it. This book is conceived as an introduction to the origin of the materials which form ceramics in an archaeological context, their selection and use by potters. It is abundantly illustrated, in color, and many case studies link methodology with examples. ISBN: 978-1-939755-49-0 - 310p, 140 figures and tables Paperback (in color) sale price $49.99 (on Amazon and other retailers) eBook sale price $19 at https://deepeducationpress.org/ceramic-materials.html It is with sadness that I have to convey the news of James Stoltman's passing, on
September 11, 2019, in Madison, Wisconsin, at age 84. Unbeknown to most, he had cancer, but did not show any signs of the illness until very late, and this summer was still working on ceramic petrography for a Chinese project. Jim Stoltman has been a pioneer in ceramic petrography in the US, on the tracks of Anna Shepard, studying and confirming her work. He was instrumental in presenting a methodology of point counting technique as applied to ceramic analysis (e.g.1989), thus promoting quantitative analysis in petrography. He has been a prolific writer, specialized in North American archaeology, publishing many petrographic studies on Mississippian and Hopewell ceramics, as well as being involved in Belgium, and in Chinese projects for several years, notably at Anyang. Jim was Emeritus Professor at the Department of Anthropology at UW-Madison where he taught for many years. He was an avid tennis player, traveler, very positive person and great colleague. We will miss him a lot, Isabelle C. Druc Selected bibliography 1989. A quantitative approach to the petrographic analysis of ceramic thin sections. American Antiquity 54(1): 147-160 1999. The Chaco-Chuska Connection: In defense of Anna Shepard. In: Pottery and People. A Dynamic Interaction, J.M. Skibo and G.M. Feinman (eds), pp. 9-24. Foundation for Archaeological Inquiry, Utah Press, Salt Lake City. 2009. with Zhichun J., Jigen T., and G. Rapp. Ceramic production in Shang Societies of Anyang. Asian Perspectives 48(1): 182-203. 2015. Ceramic petrography and Hopewell Interaction. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa. 2017. The Use of Loess in Pottery Manufacture: A Comparative Analysis of Pottery from Yinxu in North China and LBK Sites in Belgium. In: Integrative approaches in ceramic petrography, M. Ownby, I. Druc, M Masucci (eds), pp. 116-127. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. This post was written by Isabelle C. Druc. Paper titles and abstracts can be viewed here.
The symposium titled 'Cross-cultural petrographic studies of ceramic traditions' and chaired by Mary Ownby at the 2019 SAA was a welcome moment to reconnect with friends and colleagues, see great photomicrographs of ceramic pastes, pictures of beautiful landscapes, relate ceramic composition to geology and human behavior, and hear new hypotheses. The petrography session in Albuquerque, offered a good summary of ceramic analyses conducted in many parts of the globe and encompassing different time periods in pursuit of the complex relationships between human actions, communities of practice, group identity and society, approached via the study of ceramic technology and provenience. The studies presented often also integrated chemical and mineral studies, as it is now frequent in ceramic analysis. Ethnographic research was also part of the story, for example in David Killick and Edwin Wilmsen's study in Botswana, or Avila's study with Andean potters as one aspect of the study of Ester Echenique to identify communities of practice in consort with William Gilstrap. This was part of Echenique's PhD, which she defended a few days later in Tucson, and proof of the achievements possible in this field. The impact of colonization upon ceramic technology was another topic discussed, in this case by Suzanne Eckert and Deborah Huntley for a study of Pueblo pottery in the American Southwest. Andrew Womack analyzed pottery in relation to funerary practice to identify social groups in Neolithic China, while Trevor Duke, Neill Wallis and Ann Cordell looked at mortuary craft specialization of Late Woodland on the Gulf Coast. Keeping up with the theme of the session, Lorelei Platz and Carrie Dennett, presented a cross regional analysis of pottery production in Greater Nicoya, while Elizabeth Gravalos offered a diachronic perspective of 1600 years of ceramic technology at the highland Peruvian site of Jecosh. Wesley Stoner presented a case study based on quantitative petrography for temper provenance in the basin of Mexico, and John Lawrence, Scott Fitzpatrick, and Christina Glovas discussed a detailed petrographic study of Eastern Caribbean pottery. Diving into interpretative frameworks, Andrew Lack and Mary Ownby reflected upon the use of memetics as a possible theoretical approach to interpret petrographic data. Using Dawkin's definition of meme as an element of a culture or system of behavior that may be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means Lack and Ownby explored ceramic traditions in the Phoenix Basin and the meme of temper selection. They used the memetic framework to explore how this meme would have developed, been transmitted, maintained, and changed, or not adopted. Ceramic Petrographers in the Americas group members were well represented in the group's first official session at the 2018 Society for American Archaeology meeting in Washington, D.C. The goal of the session was to provide a venue for the discussion and advancement of ceramic petrography and other characterization techniques among petrographers of all skill levels. A total of 15 posters were presented that focused on the use of ceramic petrography in a variety of archaeological cases involving cultural continuity, identity, migration, and mortuary behavior. These studies incorporated both qualitative and quantitative data related to raw material selection, ceramic technology, and provenance, and they also highlighted additional sourcing techniques (e.g., SEM, EDX, XRF, and INAA) and tools (i.e., digital image analysis, ethnographic interviews, and experimental archaeology) currently used by petrographers. We are happy to report that the session was very well attended and concluded with a networking event with other petrographers in attendance at the meeting. This is the first of many CPA conference sessions to come. If you were unable to attend the meeting/session, then click here to view PDFs of the posters presented in the session. Below is a list of the participants and their poster titles.
Ceramic Petrographers in the Americas: An Introduction to our Mission and Goals Yukiko Tonoike, Andrea Torvinen, and Mary Ownby Defining petrographic fabrics among regional wares at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico Andrea Torvinen At a Crossroads: 300 years of Pottery Production and Exchange at Goat Spring Pueblo, NM Suzanne Eckert and Deborah Huntley Pottery Production at the Dillard Site: an early Basketmaker III Community Center in the Central Mesa Verde Region Kari Schleher, Emma Britton, Donna M. Glowacki, and Robin Lyle Exploring the Interaction of Culture and Technology in the Acoma Culture Province David Hill Petrography, Production, and Provenance of Ceramics from La Blanca, Guatemala John Lawrence, Cathy Costin, Kathleen Marsaglia, Michael Love, and Hector Neff Recipe for Daub? A Comparative Petrographic Study of a Common Construction Component in the Maya Area Anabel Ford, Linda Howie, and Josh Inga Mineralogy Without Minerals: A Proposed Methodology for Reconstructing the Original Compositions of Highly Altered Ceramic Bodies Using Thin Section Petrography Linda Howie, Jillian Jordan, and Heather McKillop The Use of White Engobe in the Formative Ceramics in Ojo de Agua Spring from San Antonio La Isla, Toluca Valley, Mexico Francisco J. Sanchez-Tornero Mortuary Spaces as Social Power: Ceramic Exchange and Burial Practice at Safford Mound (8PI3) C. Trevor Duke, Neill J. Wallis, and Ann S. Cordell Ceramic Petrography of Woodland Period Swift Creek Complicated Stamped Pottery in Florida and the Lower Southeaster United States Ann S. Cordell, Neill J. Wallis, and Thomas Pluckhahn Clay Resource Variability and Stallings Pottery Provenance along the Savannah and Ogeechee Rivers Zackary Gilmore and Kenneth Sassaman The Recipes of Disaster in Northern Iroquoia: Integrating Digital Image Analysis into Petrographic Practice Daniel Ionico Applications of Microscopy and Thin Section Petrography in Iroquoian Ceramic Analysis Sarah Striker Rethinking migration and mobility in the Late Roman West with ceramic petrography Vince Van Thienen This post was written by Mary Ownby and originally appeared on the website of Desert Archaeology, Inc. In an effort to advance the application of petrography in archaeological research, a workshop on ceramic petrography was held at the University of Arizona (UA) from June 26th to June 28, 2017. This workshop was sponsored by Desert Archaeology, Inc., the UA School of Anthropology, the UA School of Geosciences, the Arizona State Museum (ASM), Spectrum Petrographics, and Quality Thin Sections. The workshop brought together 17 ceramic petrographers, ranging from individuals who are well-established in the field to graduate students just learning the technique. Participants in the 2017 American Ceramic Petrography Workshop (back: Will Gilstrap, Trevor Duke, Matt Pailes, Dave Killick, Daniel Ionico; middle: John Lawrence, Ann Cordell, Mary Ownby, Judith Habicht-Mauche; front: Jennifer Meanwell, Danielle Huerta, Krista Eschbach, Andrea Torvinen, Yukiko Tonoike, Isabelle Druc, Suzanne Eckert; not pictured: Zackary Gilmore). We focused on a small group to facilitate microscope work and limited the presentations to four: (1) Fun with Sand: Petrofacies Development and Approaches to Sourcing (by Mary Ownby, Desert Archaeology, Inc./UA); (2) 'Total petrography'-the many uses of polished thin sections (by David Killick, UA); (3) Teaching Ceramic Petrography: A Tried and True Model Used at CMRAE (by Jennifer Meanwell and Will Gilstrap of MIT); and (4) This or That or Maybe Both? A synthesis of ceramic petrographic thin section preparation and analysis (by Suzanne Eckert, ASM). The remaining participants presented posters on projects ranging from pottery provenance in Florida to raw materials selection in Peru and glaze technology in New Mexico. Each afternoon we all gathered in the microscope laboratory to look at each other's thin sections and discuss the wonders of ceramic technology (i.e., clay balls in sherds-what do they mean?!?). The focus in these sessions was mostly on assisting each other in the identification of unusual mineral and rock inclusions, as well as discussing the types of raw materials used to make ancient pottery. We also had a lovely tour of the ASM pottery vault and a catered reception at the museum. Workshop participants examining thin sections in the lab (from back to front: Ann Cordell, Trevor Duke, Zackary Gilmore, and Andrea Torvinen). On the final day, we had a special presentation on the QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by SCANning electron microscopy) instrument by Isabel Barton and how this new technique can identify minerals in samples, but still requires significant user involvement for correct identification. Finally, we had a fruitful discussion on developing a website for the Ceramic Petrographers in the Americas group along with a Facebook page and a listserv. We hope many other petrographers will join to provide support and visibility to our field. We will continue to have sessions at archaeological meetings and hopefully a few more workshops. Overall, it was a wonderful meeting with many friends made! The workshop paper and poster abstracts are available as a PDF. Check back for PDFs of poster presentations soon.
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