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Maintaining Traditions: a Study of Southern Ontario Late Woodland Ceramics Through a Communities-of-Practice Approach

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Abstract

A communities-of-practices approach has been employed in this paper to investigate potting traditions of Late Woodland potters. The author has integrated Wenger’s (1998, Organization 7(2):225–246, 2000) constellation of practice and boundary objects with Smith’s (1997, 2005a) attribute combination system to study decorative practices of Middle Iroquoian potting communities in southern Ontario. The results of the study indicate similar distribution trends relating to the practice of decorative motifs. The author argues potters maintained potting traditions through time and space. This study demonstrates how the integration of more recent conceptual frameworks provides further opportunities to investigate the relation between pottery production and broader practices and beliefs.

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Acknowledgements

This paper that is mainly based on my Masters Research Project was enhanced with the help of a few individuals. I would like to thank the University of Toronto for the resources and collections needed to complete this project. I would like to thank Archaeological Services Inc. for the quality site reports for each site in this study. I would like to thank Susan Demarkar and Gregory Braun during the coding process contributed to my understanding of the multi-attribute analysis approach. I would like to thank the reviewers for their comments. I would like to thank Christina Lefebvre and Andrew Rozendaal who were both of great assistance during the organizing of the two pottery collections. I want to thank Micheal O’Rourke for his services producing the map in this paper. I want to acknowledge the encouragement, love, and support from my two parents, Clive Dorland and Patricia Dorland. I want to thank my Masters supervisor, David G. Smith, for his insight, guidance, supervision, and support throughout all stages of the research project. Lastly, I would like to thank my fiancé for her continuous love and support.

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    Steven G. H. Dorland

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Dorland, S.G.H. Maintaining Traditions: a Study of Southern Ontario Late Woodland Ceramics Through a Communities-of-Practice Approach. J Archaeol Method Theory 25, 892–910 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9362-y

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