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.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
authorsOccasional posts will be written by CPA members and shared here. Archives
August 2023
Categories |