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Understanding Household Population through Ceramic Assemblage Formation: Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology among the Gamo of Southwestern Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John W. Arthur
John W. Arthur*
Affiliation:
University of South Florida St. Petersburg, 140 7th Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL, 33701 (arthurj@stpt.usf.edu)
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Abstract

The goal of this paper is to identify the relationship between ceramic assemblages and household population. This ethnoarchaeological study among the Gamo of southwestern Ethiopia focuses on three villages and the relationship between household population and the ceramic life cycle and vessel uselife. The life cycle analysis in combination with vessel function reveals that household population could be interpreted from vessel frequency and volume. The non-pottery-producing village of Etello displays more correlations between household population and ceramic assemblages than do the two pottery-producing villages of Zuza and Guyla. Furthermore, vessel function plays a principal role in the association between uselife and household population.

Résumé

Résumé

El objetivo de este artículo (trabajo) es el de identificar la relación entre la presencia de vasijas de cerámica y número de miembros en los hogares presentes en el área. Este estudio etnoarqueológico de los Gamo en el sur-oeste de Etiopía, se concentra en tres de estos pueblos y se enfoca en la relación entre el número de miembros en los hogares locales y el uso y función de las vasijas encontradas en la zona. El análisis del ciclo de vida y función de estos restos revela la posibilidad de interpretar la composición de los hogares a partir de la frecuencia y volúmen de las vasijas (los restos). Etelo, un pueblo no productor de cerámica, presenta correlaciones más altas entre el número de miembros en sus hogares y los restos de cerámica encontrados que los pueblos productores de cerámica de Zuza y Guyla. Por otro lado, la función atribuída a las vasijas juega un papel importante en la asociación entre el número de miembros de los hogares y el ciclo de vida de estos restos cerámicos.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 74 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 31 - 48
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2009

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References

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