{"title":"Crafting difference: artefacts and the politics of distinction at a South Indian well","authors":"Mannat Johal","doi":"10.1177/14696053231206836","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"This essay examines the relationship between artefact variability and social difference through an analysis of ceramic vessels recovered from the vicinity of a shared well used during the 12th–14th centuries CE at Maski (South India). Defined by minor yet perceptible differences in their appearance and morphology, ceramic vessels that were used and discarded in this space were more variable than contemporary assemblages excavated elsewhere at Maski, and in the region. Rather than attribute the particularities of this assemblage to the production process and its organization alone, I suggest that the distinctiveness of these containers was expedient for navigating the communal, yet fraught, space of the well. I consider historical and epigraphical material alongside the ceramic dataset at hand to propose that variability may not express or embody social difference, but be used to enact it.","PeriodicalId":46391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Social Archaeology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Social Archaeology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14696053231206836","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"历史学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This essay examines the relationship between artefact variability and social difference through an analysis of ceramic vessels recovered from the vicinity of a shared well used during the 12th–14th centuries CE at Maski (South India). Defined by minor yet perceptible differences in their appearance and morphology, ceramic vessels that were used and discarded in this space were more variable than contemporary assemblages excavated elsewhere at Maski, and in the region. Rather than attribute the particularities of this assemblage to the production process and its organization alone, I suggest that the distinctiveness of these containers was expedient for navigating the communal, yet fraught, space of the well. I consider historical and epigraphical material alongside the ceramic dataset at hand to propose that variability may not express or embody social difference, but be used to enact it.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Social Archaeology is a fully peer reviewed international journal that promotes interdisciplinary research focused on social approaches in archaeology, opening up new debates and areas of exploration. It engages with and contributes to theoretical developments from other related disciplines such as feminism, queer theory, postcolonialism, social geography, literary theory, politics, anthropology, cognitive studies and behavioural science. It is explicitly global in outlook with temporal parameters from prehistory to recent periods. As well as promoting innovative social interpretations of the past, it also encourages an exploration of contemporary politics and heritage issues.