Ceramic Studies Have Emerged as a major subfield in village ethnoarchaeology. While ethnoarchaeology draws upon both archaeological and ethnographic techniques to study prehistoric cultural change, village ethnoarchaeology focuses on a range of archaeological problems at the village or household level -- including the important socioeconomic role of specific craft activities. In this context, recent studies of contemporary pottery-making follow trends in ethnoarchaeology involving model building, formation processes, and ...
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Ceramic Studies Have Emerged as a major subfield in village ethnoarchaeology. While ethnoarchaeology draws upon both archaeological and ethnographic techniques to study prehistoric cultural change, village ethnoarchaeology focuses on a range of archaeological problems at the village or household level -- including the important socioeconomic role of specific craft activities. In this context, recent studies of contemporary pottery-making follow trends in ethnoarchaeology involving model building, formation processes, and evaluation and refinement of existing archaeological recovery techniques. Michael Deal collected the information presented in this book under the auspices of the Coxoh Ethnoarchaeological Project in Chiapas, which sought to establish material culture links between the now-extinct Coxoh and modern Maya groups in the area. Information collected at each Maya household focused on the relationship between pottery and family social structure, settlement characteristics, and economic background. Much of the work is given over to an analysis of the household as a production, consumption, and depositional unit with a view toward determining how examining pottery can explicate household socioeconomic conditions in the archaeological record. Moreover, since the number of traditional potters is declining throughout the world, the rich descriptions of the pottery found at these Mayan sites will be of great use to archaeologists, curators, and specialists who need to have accurate details about traditional ceramics. This study is valuable not just for information specific to ancient Maya pottery usage but also as a model for the use of ceramic data to help interpretarchaeological pottery assemblages.
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