Ceramic Analysis for Archaeology

Ceramic Analysis for Archaeology
Exploring Ceramic Production Past and Present
Peter van Dommelen and Miguel Ángel Cau Ontiveros
ARCH 2105 (CRN 25298) | M 3.00 - 5.30 pm, Rhode Island Hall 008
Pottery is easily the most ubiquitous and abundant category of material culture that has been preserved
in the archaeological record, certainly in the Mediterranean, and probably on a global scale. For that
reason alone, archaeologist must pay due attention to the ceramic remains that they excavate or pick up
from the surface – and they have for the most, as ceramic
studies is a well-established specialization. Despite the
ubiquity of the material, however, and even if its
importance is widely recognized, pottery has all too often
been, and continues to be used for little more than just
dating sites and deposits, or perhaps to identify
commercial or gift-giving connections between regions. As
a result, ceramic studies are not often seen as making their
mark at the forefront of theoretical developments across
the discipline as a whole.
Such a view, however, does little justice to the field of ceramic studies and its intellectual and
methodological advances. Focusing specifically on the manufacturing process of pottery in all its
dimensions, the broad aim of this course is to understand the role and meaning of pottery in ancient
societies, or more generally precapitalist and traditional communities, and to explore the rich array of
approaches and perspectives that have been marshaled to make sense of the mountains of sherds that
archaeological projects tend to amass.
The archaeological starting-point for this course is two-fold: on the one hand there are the large quantities
of pottery that are habitually collected by archaeological projects and that are testimony to the
manufacturing processes that produced them. The other point of departure are the remains of actual
production sites, notably kilns but also other more modest remains like wasters. In order to make sense
of these material remains, we will survey and critically assess theoretical and methodological approaches
to investigate the economic and social dimensions of ceramic
production; we will also address the role of scientific analyses and
actively apply an array of in a series of practical sessions. In doing so,
we will focus primarily on the Mediterranean, but by no means restrict
ourselves to this region.
In this course, we will also look well beyond the sherds themselves
and turn to ethnographic and historical studies of potters, artisanal
organization and ceramic production from across the Mediterranean
and elsewhere in the world in order to gain a deeper understanding
of ceramic production in the both the ancient and recent past.
Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World
Ceramic Analysis for Archaeology
(winter-spring 2017)
Practical Information
 Instructors:
 Peter van Dommelen ([email protected])
 Miguel Ángel (aka Cuco) Cau Ontiveros
([email protected])
 Class hours: Mon, 3-5.30pm,
 Location: Rhode Island Hall, 008
 Office hours: Wed-Fri, 10-11, Rhode Island Hall, 009
 Canvas site: https://canvas.brown.edu/courses/1070982
 Course blog: [t.b.d.]
Course Organization
The archaeological, scientific and ethnographic dimensions of the course are interwoven in close
conjunction throughout most of the course, and they are intended to come together in particular in the
final student presentation and paper. By and large, the course is set up as follows.
Assessment
The course will primarily be assessed through a substantial final paper, a first version of which will be
presented to the class at a ‘course conference’ about Archaeologies of Ceramic Production This will be
held at some point in April. Students are also required to contribute several times to the course blog and
to lead classroom discussions on a given topic. Other assessment exercises include the creation of a poster
and a review of an anthropological monograph. General class participation is assessed to round the grade
up or down.
Requirements
This course is primarily intended for graduate students, but advanced undergraduates with relevant
experience may take the course as well.
Over 12 weeks, students will spend three hours per week in class, while the concluding ‘course
conference’ will add another six hours (39 hours total). Required reading and practical work sessions (labs)
are expected to take up approximately eight hours per week (72 hours). In addition, writing and
commenting to blog posts as well as researching for and writing of the class presentation and final paper
are estimated at a total of approximately 88 hours over the course of the term. The overall time
requirement is therefore estimated at some 200 hours.
2
Ceramic Analysis for Archaeology
(winter-spring 2017)
Course Organization
The archaeological, scientific and ethnographic dimensions of the course are interwoven in close
conjunction throughout most of the course, and they are intended to come together in particular in the
final student presentation and paper. By and large, the course is set up as follows
 The first four meetings are largely introductory to survey the main approaches to and conceptual
frameworks of ceramic studies and artisanal production in archaeology, anthropology and materials
studies.
 The following three weeks (5-7) are dedicated to the technical and scientific foundations of pottery
studies.
 The next four weeks (8-11) will be used to deepen four key topics relating to craftspeople and their
communities.
 The final meeting (week 12) will be an extended session for presentations of student projects.
Assessment (in chronological order)
Feb. 24
10% poster, to be presented in class, of a ceramic production site and/or assemblage in the
ancient or modern Mediterranean;
-10% blog contributions and leading class discussion: in weeks 2-4 and 8-11 one or two
student(s) discuss(es) on the course blog the papers listed for weekly reading. Blog
posts should be online by Wednesday evening in the week before they are to be
discussed;
March 10 15% review of a relevant book-length pottery study: short paper (1000 words). The book to
be reviewed has to be approved by March 1 at the latest;
April 3
15% lab report on macro- and microscopic study of pottery sherd;
May 1
15% contribution to the Course Conference on Archaeologies of Ceramic Production;
May 12
35% final paper based on the presentation given at the Course Conference (6,000 words,
excluding references).
Calendar of Classes
1.
Jan. 30
Introduction
2.
Feb. 6
Making Pots and Firing Kilns
3.
Feb. 13
Ceramic Ecologies
[holiday weekend]
4.
Feb. 27
5.
6.
7.
March 6
March 13
March 20
Ceramic Ethnoarchaeologies; poster discussion
Archaeometric Approaches
Microscopy and Fabrics
Petrography and Thin Sections
[spring break]
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
April 3
April 10
April 17
April 24
May 1
Provenancing Pots
Workshops, Specialization, and Cross-Craft Interactions
Craftspeople and Communities of Practice
Ceramic Ethnoarchaeometry
Course Conference on Archaeologies of Ceramic Production (extended session until 8 pm)
3
Ceramic Analysis for Archaeology
(winter-spring 2017)
Writing Assignments
1. poster
present a ceramic production site and/or its assemblage from the (ancient)
Mediterranean, highlighting its location and key characteristics. You could discuss a
single pottery workshop, kiln site or compare several ones, explore an extended
production center. Your case study may be archaeological or ethnographic, as long as
it is in the Mediterranean and immediately surrounding regions.
2. review
review a book-length pottery study (1,000 words). The topic may be a ceramic
assemblage or one or more sites of any time and region, but it has to be clearly a
‘ceramic analysis’ with a clear archaeological objective. It may, but need not include
scientific analysis, but it most of all has to ask and answer archaeological questions.
Several possible books are suggested on Canvas, but you are encouraged to propose
your own book.
3. lab report
report on your own work during and in the wake of the two lab classes in March:
describe what you did, why you did it that way and with what objective(s) in mind, and
outline your results.
4. final paper
submission of final paper (6,000 words, excluding references) that examines a
thematic question of ceramic production in the Mediterranean either past or present,
and that draws on comparative evidence from other times and places.
Reading and Text Books
You are required to read four to five papers every week as listed in Canvas. Journal articles and book
chapters that will be made available as pdfs. There is no dedicated text book.
Albero Santacreu, D. 2014: Materiality, Techniques and Society in Pottery Production: The Technological
Study of Archaeological Ceramics Through Paste Analysis. Warsaw and Berlin: De Gruyter Open.
Arnold, D. 1988: Ceramic Theory and Cultural Process. (New Studies in Archaeology). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Cuomo di Caprio, N. 2007: Ceramica in archeologia 2. Antiche tecniche di lavorazione e moderni metodi di
indagine. (Studia Archaeologica 144). Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider.
Hayes, J. 1997: A Handbook on Mediterranean Pottery. London: Trustees of the British Museum.
Miller, D. 1985: Artefacts as Categories. A Study of Ceramic Variability in Central India. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Orton, C. and M. Hughes 2013: Pottery in Archaeology. (Cambridge Manuals in Archaeology). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Quinn, P. 2010: Ceramic Petrography. The Interpretation of Archaeological Pottery & Related Artefacts in
Thin Section. Oxford: Archaeopress.
Peacock, D. 1982: Pottery in the Roman World: an Ethnoarchaeological Approach. London: Longman.
Rice, P. 2015: Pottery Analysis. A Sourcebook. Chicago: University of Chicago Press (2nd edition).
Rye, O. 1981: Pottery technology - Principles and Reconstruction. (Manuals on Archeology 4). Washington:
Taraxacum.
Shepard, A. 1956: Ceramics for the Archaeologist. Washington: Carnegie Institution.
van der Leeuw, S. and A. Pritchard 1984: The Many Dimensions of Pottery: Ceramics in Archaeology and
Anthropology. Amsterdam: Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory, University of Amsterdam.
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