Ceramics and change. An overview of pottery production

Summary, in English

In southern African Iron Age studies, there are few attempts to systematically apply and

include laboratory analyses when studying archaeological ceramic materials. As demonstrated in this

paper, such analyses help to understand technological aspects such as raw materials, manufacturing

techniques and vessel function. Combined with vessel shape and decoration as well as ethnographic

studies the results provide new ways to understand local and regional distribution networks of the

ceramics craft. Furthermore, laboratory analyses are most useful when studying continuity and

changes in the ceramics handicraft over time, which has implications both on cultural and social

change as seen in the shift in ceramic production techniques. We use examples from Zimbabwe and

South Africa to illustrate these changes, and discuss them in a broader social and technological context

in Iron Age southern Africa.

• Author: Anders Lindahl; Innocent Pikirayi
• Department/s: Department of Geology
• Publishing year: 2010
• Language: English
• Pages: 133-149
• Publication/Series: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 3
• Full text: - 1 MB; Download statistics
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12520-010-0031-2
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Springer
• Topic: Geology
• Keywords: pottery; ceramic technology; Iron Age southern Africa; simulated manufacture; forming techniques; change; ceramic thin section
• Status: Published
• Project: Ceramics and the Ethnographic Present
• Research group: Laboratory for Ceramic Research
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1866-9565