The Pottery of Khirbet En-Nahas: A Rejoinder

Abstract

Smith and Levy (2008) have published an assemblage of pottery from the copper production centre of Khirbet en-Nahas in Jordan. Based on their interpretation of the ¹⁴C dates from the site and contra the accumulated knowledge on the ceramic typology of the Levant they argue that this pottery dates to the Iron I and Iron IIA, and that there was no later activity at the site. We show that much of the Khirbet en-Nahas pottery dates to the Iron IIB–C. We argue that the charcoal samples sent for radiocarbon dating originated from the waste of industrial activity at the site in the Iron I and Iron IIA, while the pottery came from a post-production activity in the Iron IIB–C — an activity that included the construction of a fort on the surface of the site. We propose that the fort was built along the Assyrian Arabian trade route, at the foot of the ascent from the Arabah to the Assyrian headquarters of Buseirah.     

Spectrographic Analyses of Mycenaean Pottery from Ialysos on Rhodes: Results and Implications

Abstract

The changing relations between the important Mycenaean site of Ialysos on Rhodes and the Argolid (in the Greek Peloponnese) during the LH III period (the 15th-12th centuries B.C.) have been studied through the pottery found in the tombs of the cemetery from Ialysos. The results of spectrographic analyses of well characterised and dated pots from Ialysos have made possible a clear distinction between locally produced Rhodian pottery and imports that were primarily from the Argolid. During the LH IIIA2 period the large majority of the cemetery pottery at Ialysos was imported from the Argolid. The same situation pertains in the IIIB period, but there are examples of imported pottery from centres other than the Argolid, such as Crete. In the 12th century B.C. (IIIC), however, the position was completely reversed, and the fine Mycenaean pottery was almost exclusively made on Rhodes.     

Fort Ancient-Mississippian Interaction and Shell-Tempered Pottery at SunWatch Village,Ohio

Abstract

The use of mussel shell for tempering pottery vessels by Fort Ancient societies is poorly understood. Suggestions have included both diffusion from neighboring Mississippian social groups and local developments, although no studies have investigated whether shell-tempered pottery is non-local or associated with Mississippian features and artifact types within Fort Ancient sites. This study begins to remedy this deficiency by examining the social and temporal contexts and petrographic composition of shell-tempered pottery at the Sun Watch site, a Fort Ancient village located in sw Ohio that was occupied during the height of neighboring Mississippian developments (ca.A.D. 1150–1450). Our findings indicate that shell tempered pottery was not produced locally and is linked with a village leader and Mississippian-inspired architecture.     

Dealing for Dollars

Abstract

Archaeologists in the field and laboratory commonly record colors of pottery using Munsell or other standard codes. These data are seldom used for more than primary documentation of individual items or to summarize common colors of a defined type or ware. Despite the many factors affecting pottery color it is possible to use this information to investigate patterns of variation within ceramic traditions and between contemporary sites, and to establish the degree of standardization or quality control achieved by ancient potters. Significant trends can be identified in the range and proportional occurrence of colors on assemblages of Red Polished Ware, the common pottery of the Early and Middle Cypriot Bronze Age (ca. 2300–1650 B.C.). These have implications for establishing the degree of control exercised over the process of manufacture and are relevant to discussions of the context of pottery production technology transfer, and inter-site relationships.     

Ceramics Technology at Late Classic K’axob,Belize

Abstract

Excavation of a Late Classic Maya platform at K’axob, Belize, has revealed a suite of pit features and associated artifacts that are strongly suggestive of pottery production. Interpretation of the features as remnants of pit kilns used to fire pottery is bolstered by comparanda from the Andean region. Archaeometric and experimental replication studies also support the interpretation of this locale as one of pottery fabrication. Findings discussed include features identified as kilns, raw material suitable for temper, lumps of fired clay, ground stone, and expedient clay-working tools made of recycled pottery sherds. This research contributes to knowledge of the organization of Maya pottery production by providing the most comprehensive information presented to date on the technology of ancient Maya pottery fabrication and firing.     

AMPHIBIAN AND REPTILIAN IMAGERY IN CADDO ART

Abstract

Although Caddo pottery is most recognized for its nonrepresentative decorative patterns, artists also incorporated zoomorphic figural components into their designs. Amphibian and reptilian depictions occur not only on pottery vessels but also on pipes, figurines, and pendants. Five modes of depiction occurred in the Caddo archaeological area, spanning the period from ca. A.D. 1100 to 1700. These depictions represent local expressions of the Beneath World creatures that were recognized by people across the Eastern Woodlands. These expressions embodied the power of the Beneath World and played a role in mediating with that power in regards to agriculture, travel, death, and political processes. The Caddo people integrated these zoomorphic representations into their distinctive tradition of pottery design, creating a unique cultural expression of a broader cosmological theme that was present throughout the Mississippian tradition.     

Sponge Spicules in Pottery: New Data from Mali

Abstract

Until recently, the presence of sponge spicules in ancient ceramics has only been reported from South America. Current technological studies of Neolithic pottery from Sudan and Iron Age pottery from Mali provide evidence that sponge spicules are also a distinctive inclusion of some African ceramics. In this study, new data concerning the presence and quantitative variability of sponge spicules in West African Iron Age pottery from sites along the Niger River are discussed. Additionally, we discuss the potential archaeological insights offered by the study of sponge inclusions in pottery, and we consider methods for assessing whether or not these spicules were intentionally added as temper to vessels.     

BYZANTINE AND UMAYYAD PERIOD POTTERY AT BARSINIA (2006 SEASON OF EXCAVATION)

Abstract

Until recent pottery studies of the ancient Classical and Early Islamic rural sites in northern Jordan were of less interest to archaeologists. This article focuses on the Byzantine and Umayyad period pottery that has been discovered during the first season of excavation at Barsinia in the north-western part of Jordan. Fifty-two indicative pottery sherds were sorted according to their date and function into two main groups: the early Byzantine pottery (fourth–sixth centuries) and the Late Byzantine–Umayyad pottery (sixth–eighth centuries). Since Barsinia is one of the small rural archaeological sites, and such sites were rarely mentioned in ancient literary sources, the study of material remains at such locations is essential for elucidating regional development and trade. It also sheds more light on the relation between the site and the surroundings through the comparative study of the pottery objects.     

Using chaîne opératoire and communities of practice to identify interaction in the Contact and Mission periods in southern Georgia,AD 1540–1715

ABSTRACT

In this article, the pottery production of indigenous groups living inside and outside of colonial spaces in southern Georgia is compared by identifying portions of the chaîne opératoire of pottery production. Diachronic and geographic changes to production demonstrate that groups living in the interior of Georgia were in continual interaction with coastal groups in the mission system. This interaction likely contributed to the emergence of the Altamaha pottery tradition, which spread from southern South Carolina to northern Florida during Spanish colonization of the region. This research shows that Native American groups navigating colonialism drew on a wide network of communities to alter traditions in the face of unprecedented social change.     

Report on the pottery from Tell Sufan in Nablus,Palestine

ABSTRACT

This research report aims to give detailed information on the pottery from the 1999 and 2013-16 excavation campaigns taking place at the Tell Sufan site in Nablus, Palestine. These were conducted by the Department of Antiquities at An-Najah National University (ANU) in Nablus. It is of note that this ancient pottery has never previously been the subject of research nor has any literature been published on it. Our methodology consists in: analysing the pottery by identifying it, typifying it, and giving it a function; providing chronological information on the site; comparison of the pottery with that from other sites in Palestine, using archaeological information from the site; and contextualising our findings with other historical and archaeological studies. Examination of the functional use of the pottery allows us to demonstrate human activity at the Tell Sufan site, giving information on the most prosperous phases of occupation in regard to economic aspects, through the late Bronze Age, Iron Age and Byzantine-Early Islamic periods.     

An assemblage of 17th-century pottery from Bombay Wharf,Rotherhithe, London SE16

Abstract

A detailed examination of an assemblage of pottery deposited during the last quarter of the 17th century at Bombay Wharf, in Rotherhithe, London, provides the opportunity to look at the wider context of painted earthenwares made at selected centres on the Continent and found in London. The Rotherhithe material includes a high proportion of imported pottery, with fine examples of Portuguese faience, Ligurian maiolica and Dutch tin-glazed ware. The wider distribution of these wares in London is considered, as well as questions of the original context in which they appeared and the circumstances of their disposal.     

The Empire of the Hittites

Abstract

The paper deals with six recent studies which relate to the on-going debate over the chronology of the eleventh to the ninth century B.C.E. strata in the Levant and thus to the history of the region in the Iron Age. The paper takes issue with methodological problems relating to the questions of ethnographic comparison in archaeology, interpretation of biblical sources by archaeologists, pottery typology and dating. It offers a different interpretation of the finds at Hazor, Beth-shemesh, Tel Batash, Horbat Rosh Zait, and Bethsaida.     

Questioning Craft Production at Angel Mounds Analysis of the 2006–2009 Angel Mounds Field-Schools

Abstract

Seventy years of archaeological investigations at the site of Angel Mounds (12VG1) have led to a broad overall understanding of the cultural practices of the Mississippian people in southwest Indiana nearly 1,000 years ago, but have also raised ever expanding new questions. Recent field-school excavations at Angel Mounds, sponsored by the Glenn A. Black Laboratory (GBL) at Indiana University, explored magnetic anomalies in a previously unexcavated area at Angel Mounds. Analyses of features and artifacts encountered during the excavations at Unit A (the “Potter's House”), including large amounts of Mississippi Plain pottery and craft-production objects, inspired new questions on the organization of craft production at Angel Mounds and other Mississippian archaeological sites. In this article, I test whether a structure at Unit A may have been a craftproduction workshop by reviewing data archaeologists traditionally associate with workshops and examining the standardization of pottery found at the location. Preliminary results demonstrate the variability of Mississippi Plain pottery, even within single locations, and also show the potential analytical utility of such variability for testing important issues in the archaeology of Mississippian societies, including supposed elite-control over craft production and intrasite social organizations.     

Ceramic Petrology and the Study of Anglo-Saxon and Later Medieval Ceramics

Abstract

A SURVEY of archaeological ceramic thin sections held by institutions and individuals in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the early 1990s by the City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit and funded by English Heritage. Over 6,000 thin sections of Anglo-Saxon or medieval date (or reports on their analysis) were located. For the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon and the post-Conquest Periods, these studies have confirmed that pottery production was carried out in a limited number of centres and that most pottery, including handmade coarsewares, was therefore produced for trade. The distances over which pottery was carried vary from period to period but were actually as high or higher in the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon Period as in the 13th to 14h centuries. However, for the Early Anglo-Saxon Period (and the Middle Anglo-Saxon Period outside of eastern England) the evidence of ceramic petrology is equivocal and requires more study. These 6,000–odd thin sections represent a resource which could be used for various future studies, some of which are discussed here, and as an aid to their further use a database containing information on the sampled ceramics, their location and publications of their analyses will be published online through Internet Archaeology.     

The Antiquities Market

Abstract

The computer has not been widely used for the study and analysis of Greek and Roman pottery. Recently at Stobi in Yugoslavian Macedonia a considerable quantity of pottery has been coded according to a system devised specifically for the rather complex situation presented by the wide-reaching market for ceramics in the Greek and Roman periods. The system and coding procedures, as well as the preliminary results of the analysis, are published here in the hope that they will serve as an aid to others working with similar material.     

A group of early 20th-century naval victualling finds from Royal Clarence Yard,Gosport, Hampshire

Abstract

Archaeological excavation in 2007 on the site of a late 18th-century brewery and associated pump-house at Royal Clarence Yard, Gosport uncovered an assemblage of pottery within the backfill of the latter structure. This was one of a small number of Admiralty victualling yards responsible for the provisioning of ships and shore establishments of the Royal Navy at home and overseas. Analysis of the pottery and other finds, supplemented by documentary research, has provided an opportunity to study items distributed by the yard to the messes of ships of the Royal Navy in the early 20th century.     

Pottery and the Visual World at Early Iron Age Hascherkeller,Germany

Abstract

On most late prehistoric and early historic settlement sites all over the world, pottery is the most abundant material recovered by archaeologists. Analysis of pottery provides information about the chronological position and cultural affiliation of a site, as well as about techniques of manufacture, organization of production, trade relations, and patterns in the social structure of the community. Here, a new approach is presented that focuses on pottery as a principal factor in the visual world of the people who made and used it. Pottery from the Early Iron Age settlement of Hascherkeller in southern Germany is examined in the context of the physical and social world of which the community was a part. It is argued that the shapes, textures, and decoration of the pottery refer to other elements of the physical world. This approach offers a new way to understand how prehistoric people responded to economic and political changes through the purposeful fashioning of their material culture.     

PASTE CHARACTERIZATION OF WEEDEN ISLAND POTTERY FROM KOLOMOKI AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SPECIALIZED PRODUCTION

Abstract

We report the results of a petrographic analysis of pottery from Kolomoki, a Middle and Late Woodland period mound and village complex in southwestern Georgia. Thin sections of 65 sherds representing several prestige and utilitarian Weeden Island pottery types, from both domestic (midden) and ceremonial (mound) contexts, were obtained. For comparison, we also analyzed samples from a few potential clay sources. We characterize the range of variability in paste/resource groupings present in the Kolomoki assemblage and use these data to address patterns of manufacture and exchange of Weeden Island pottery through comparisons to thin sections of comparable types from the McKeithen site and other Weeden Island sites in the region.     

Molecular evidence of changing foodways across the Mississippian transition at the George Reeves site (11S650)

ABSTRACT

The George Reeves site (11S650) is a multicomponent village on the bluffs in the central American Bottom, Illinois. The site was occupied from the Late Woodland Rosewood phase through the Mississippian Lohmann phase. Pottery use and dietary variation between the Late Woodland and Emergent Mississippian occupations at the site were explored through stylistic analysis, pottery residue analysis, and compound-specific carbon isotopic analysis of pottery residues. Although more samples should be analyzed, diet and pottery use at George Reeves seems to have been varied, with maize present by cal AD 900–1000, but comprising a relatively small portion of lipid residues in pottery. Residue analysis indicates a C₄ presence in 5 of 16 sampled pots from the early Emergent Mississippian deriving from either maize or from meat from animals consuming maize. Pottery residues were mixed, showing C₃ and C₄ plants as well as meat and fish or shellfish. One residue showed a high incidence of C₄ contribution, most likely from Portulaca oleracea (common purslane), as well as large amounts of fish or shellfish and another C₃ plant. Residue from a ceramic pipestem indicates that maize may have been smoked, probably in the form of maize silk mixed with other nontobacco plants.