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Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Perspectives on Ceramic Vessels and Annual Accumulation Rates of Sherds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Alan P. Sullivan III
Alan P. Sullivan III*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0380 (alan.sullivan@uc.edu)
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Abstract

A broad examination of the synthetic results of ceramic ethnoarchaeology reveals that research has centered on the factors that influence variation in the production, use, and discard of whole pottery vessels. Far less common are ceramic ethnoarchaeological studies that investigate the various ways that broken vessels become incorporated into the archaeological record. Archaeologists who would like to apply the findings of ceramic ethnoarchaeology, therefore, are faced with the daunting prospect of determining the relevance of those findings for archaeological phenomena. In this paper, I first examine the relationship between ceramic ethnoarchaeological research on whole vessels and archaeological methods for determining annual accumulation rates of sherds for sites in southwestern Colorado. I then present an alternative method that analyzes contextual variation between use and discard assemblages at two sites in the Grand Canyon area and explore the consequences of all these studies for evaluating assumptions about vessel use-life, systemic inventories, and annual accumulation rates. I conclude with some archaeologically led suggestions about how ceramic ethnoarchaeologists might expand their research designs to make the results of their studies resonate more strongly with, and hence be more useful to, archaeologists who analyze bucketfuls of potsherds.

Résumé

Résumé

Un amplio exámen de los resultados combinados de la etnoarqueologia cerámica revela que las investigaciones se han centrado en factores que influyen la variación en la producción, uso y el deshecho de toda la vasija. Mucho menos comunes son los estudios etnoarquelógicos que investigan las diferentes maneras en que vasijas rotas llegan a ser incorporadas en los documentos arqueológicos. Por esta razón, los arqueólogos que quisieran aplicar los hallazgos de la etnografía cerámica confrontan la perspectiva desalentadora de determinar la relevancia de esos hallazgos en relación al fenómeno arqueológico. En este ensayo, yo examino, primero, la relación entre las investigaciones etnoarqueológicas de la cerámica que se han hecho sobre vasijas completas y los métodos arqueológicos para determinar la tasa de acumulación anual de fragmentos de vasijas (sherds) en sitios arqueológicos en el suroeste de Colorado. Después, presento un método alternativo que analiza la variación contextual entre uso y ensamblaje de fragmentos en dos sitios en la regios del Gran Cañón. Al mismo tiempo, exploro las consecuencias de todos estos estudios pare evaluar las suposiciones sobre el uso-vida de vasijas, inventarios sistémicos, las tasas de acumulaciones anuales. Concluyo con algunas sugerencias hacia cómo los etnoarqueólogos de la cerámica posiblemente puedan ampliar los diseños de sus investigaciones para que sus resultados resuenen más fuertemente y así sean más útiles para los arqueólogos quienes examinan cubetadas de tepalcates.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 121 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2008

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