Domestic Ceramic Production and Spatial Organization: A Mexican Case Study in Ethnoarchaeology

Paperback / softback

Main Details

Title Domestic Ceramic Production and Spatial Organization: A Mexican Case Study in Ethnoarchaeology
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Philip J. Arnold III
SeriesNew Studies in Archaeology
Physical Properties
Format:Paperback / softback
Pages:196
Dimensions(mm): Height 246,Width 189
Category/GenreArchaeology by period and region
ISBN/Barcode 9780521545839
ClassificationsDewey:972.7401
Audience
Professional & Vocational
Tertiary Education (US: College)
Illustrations 39 Tables, unspecified; 5 Maps; 11 Halftones, unspecified; 20 Line drawings, unspecified

Publishing Details

Publisher Cambridge University Press
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publication Date 4 December 2003
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

This pioneering ethnoarchaeological study is of contemporary ceramic production and consumption in several villages in the Los Tuxtlas region of Mexico. While many archaeologists have identified ceramic production zones in the archaeological record, their identifying criteria have often been vague and impressionistic. The present book's contribution is to use ethnographic research to suggest how archaeologists might consistently recognise ceramic manufacturing. It also places ceramic production in larger cultural contexts and provides details of the ecology, production, distribution, use, discard, and site formation processes. Philip Arnold's critical observations on some of the serious weaknesses in archaeological interpretations of ceramic production will interest Mesoamericanists and all other archaeologists grappling with these, and related, issues.

Reviews

'Philip Arnold clearly demonstrates how contemporary data can assist scholars in recognizing the archaeological evidence of ceramic manufacture. His work is worthy of emulation.' Man