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The Archaeologist’s Laboratory pp 161–186Cite as

Analysing Pottery

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Part of the book series: Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology ((IDCA))

Conclusions

Fragments of pottery are probably the most abundant macro-artifacts to be found on sites of the last 2000 years or more and, on average, they tend to be preserved almost as well as lithics. Because pottery is a plastic medium, it lends itself to a tremendous variety in vessel shape and decoration. Historically, archaeologists have depended on this variety in pottery to order archaeological cultures in time, determine their distribution in space, and identify interactions between regions. More recently, archaeologists investigating pottery have focussed on what it can tell us about technological change, the use of pottery, craft specialization, social roles, strategies, and relationships.

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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, USA

    Michael A. Jochim

  2. Late of University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA

    Roy S. Dickens Jr.

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© 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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(2002). Analysing Pottery. In: Jochim, M.A., Dickens, R.S. (eds) The Archaeologist’s Laboratory. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47654-1_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-47654-1_9

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