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Ceramics and Society pp 217–258Cite as

Classification of Archaeological Assemblages According to the Chaîne opératoire Concept: Functional and Sociological Characterization

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Abstract

After the mastery of the technological interpretation of sherds or vessels comes the classification stage of ceramic assemblages. The principles of ceramic assemblage technical classification are outlined in Chap. 4. These principles advocate a classification of all the sherds in a given assemblage according to technical processes and finished products successively. This is contrary to usual practices. The aim is to highlight traditions, that is to say, ways of doing a given functional range of containers. Once this classification is established, the challenge is to evaluate whether the variability of the chaînes opératoires is functional or sociological and whether sociological variability is simple or complex. The study of the function of vessels relies on shapes and physico-chemistry. The study of sociological variability leads to an analysis of the sociological landscape and the function of the sites at a macro-regional level.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for example, www.weizmann.ac.il/complex/uzy/archaeomath/volumecalc.html.

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    Valentine Roux

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Roux, V. (2019). Classification of Archaeological Assemblages According to the Chaîne opératoire Concept: Functional and Sociological Characterization. In: Ceramics and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03973-8_4

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