Alise Gunarssonne, Baiba Dumpe, Vanda Visocka, A. Brēķis
{"title":"A Case for Coexistence of Different Potting Practices – Baltic Ware in Latvia","authors":"Alise Gunarssonne, Baiba Dumpe, Vanda Visocka, A. Brēķis","doi":"10.24916/iansa.2021.2.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.9","url":null,"abstract":"Latvia in the 11th–13th century poses a curious case for the coexistence of two different practices of Baltic ware production. The Baltic ware pots from lower reaches of the River Daugava and from the Courland region look not just stylistically, but also technologically different. Our paper assessed the production traces by using macro-observations, Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) and extensive ethnographic material of Slavic pottery production of the 1900s, as well as using modern replicas as visual aids to assist in the identification of the principal coil attachment methods. The results showed that potters from the lower reaches of Daugava used the wheel’s rotation extensively during the shaping process of Baltic ware. The production of the pots required the potter to possess a level of technical skill which implied a level of professionalisation. Baltic ware from Courland was less technically complicated and used comparatively more of the methods of handmade pottery production.","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90853150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Identifying Wheel-Thrown Vases in Middle Minoan Crete? Preliminary Analysis of Experimental Replicas of Plain Handleless Conical Cups from Protopalatial Phaistos","authors":"Ilaria Caloi","doi":"10.24916/iansa.2021.2.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.7","url":null,"abstract":"Recent work in Middle Bronze Age Crete has revealed that most Protopalatial or First Palace period pottery is produced through the use of a combination of coil-building and the wheel, i.e., wheelcoiling. Experimental work conducted on pottery from Minoan sites of Northern and Eastern Crete (e.g., Knossos, Myrtos Pyrgos, Palaikastro) has indeed determined that Minoan potters did not develop the skills required to adopt the wheel-throwing technique. However, my recent technological study of Protopalatial ceramic material from Middle Minoan IIA (19th century BC) deposits from the First Palace at Phaistos, in Southern Crete, has revealed that though pottery was produced by the wheelcoiling techniques, yet other forming techniques were practised too. In this paper I present a preliminary analysis of experimental replicas of MM IIA Phaistian plain handleless conical cups, manufactured on the potter’s wheel using three different forming techniques: wheel-pinching, wheel-coiling, and throwing-off-the-hump. This analysis will proffer answers to several questions on the use of the potter’s wheel in Middle Bronze Age Crete and opens the possibility that at MM IIA Phaistos there co-existed potters who had developed skills to employ different forming techniques on the wheel, including possibly that of throwing-off-the-hump.","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81670434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Material Methods; Considering Ceramic Raw Materials and the Spread of the Potter‘s Wheel in Early Iron Age Southern Iberia","authors":"B. D. de Groot","doi":"10.24916/iansa.2021.2.16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.16","url":null,"abstract":"This paper discusses the role of clay selection and preparation in the production of wheel-made pottery in Early Iron Age southern Iberia. The first systematic use of potter’s wheels in the production of Early Iron Age ceramics in southern Iberia corresponds to the establishment of pottery workshops associated with Phoenician trade colonies, dating to the period between the end of the 10th and 7th century BCE. There are still many gaps in our understanding of how technological knowledge was transmitted between the Phoenician workshops and “indigenous’ communities that adopted the potter’s wheel. This paper draws upon a growing body of archaeometric and ceramic technological research to consider clay selection strategies in these new workshops. Secondly, this paper will consider the role of ceramic raw materials in the development of new “hybrid’ ceramic forms, particularly grey-ware. It will hereby provide theoretical considerations surrounding the significance of material cultural hybridity in answering questions raised by postcolonial archaeologists about identity, cultural transmission and hybridisation in the context of the Phoenician colonial system.","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"T166 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82129836","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reinventing the Wheel: Perpetual Innovation in Sinhalese Potter Assemblages","authors":"D. Winslow","doi":"10.24916/iansa.2021.2.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.11","url":null,"abstract":"This paper describes a linked series of potter’s wheel reinventions and abandonments from the mid-20th century through 2013. The wheel is analysed as one element in a complex and dynamic assemblage of people, resources, technologies, meanings, places, and time. Primary data come from ethnographic observations and interviews in a Sinhalese Sri Lankan potter community followed since 1974. As they shifted from one potter’s wheel to another, these potters have altered social and physical supporting technologies for procuring and preparing clay, acquiring fuel, organising labour, and marketing pottery. Some, having reached the limits of a wheel’s capabilities and their own bodies, have abandoned the wheel in favour of moulds and mechanical presses, setting off more cascades of change. Their experiences help to clarify the adaptive capacities and limitations of both potter’s wheels and their users. As this story unfolds in often unanticipated ways, it reveals the importance of attending to spatiotemporal scale. Locally, the wheel highlights the relatively fast-changing affordances and constraints with which individual potters, households, and communities engage. But the wheel also brings into focus the slower moving consequences of regional heterogeneities and paths laid down by national colonial and post-colonial policies decades ago.","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78435048","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Ancient Greek Potter’s Wheel: Experimental Archaeology and Web Applications for Velocity Analysis","authors":"Brandon Neth, Eleni Hasaki","doi":"10.24916/iansa.2021.2.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.1","url":null,"abstract":"The potter’s wheel is central to the understanding of ancient technology, knowledge transfer, and social complexity. With scant evidence of potter’s wheels from antiquity, experimental projects with replica potter’s wheels can help researchers address larger questions on ceramic production. One such set of experiments, performed using the Ancient Greek wheel replica in Tucson modelled on Athenian and Corinthian iconographic evidence, provided useful insight into the qualitative experience of ancient potters. In past experiments, the quantitative analysis of the throwing sessions included data on wheel velocity which had been collected collected over large intervals, comprising entire stages of the throwing process. While this method provides an overview of rotational speed, a continuous velocity graph provides a clearer picture collected data on wheel velocity. To address this, we developed a web application (WheelVis; brandonneth.github.io/wheelvis) to aid in the velocity analysis of experimental potter’s wheels. Users provide a recording of the throwing session and while advancing through the recording, they mark points where the wheel has completed rotations. Using the time intervals between these points, the tool reconstructs a graph of the velocity of the wheel throughout the throwing session. This innovative application provides fast, fine-grained velocity information, and helps archaeologists answer questions about the physical properties of their experimental replicas or wheels used in traditional workshops. Future development of the application will include contextual partitions to allow users to split the throw into different stages, enabling further analysis into the throwing process. Moreover, intelligent error detection would notify users when a mark is likely to be made in error and allow them to correct their mistake.","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74915200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Potter’s Wheel in the Chilean Central Valley: A Long-Term and Contextual Perspective on Technological Change","authors":"J. Rosselló","doi":"10.24916/iansa.2021.2.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.12","url":null,"abstract":"In this article the social and technological dynamics detected in the transition from hand-made pottery to wheel-thrown ware in a modern context is considered. The many different sources supplemented by fieldwork provide a long-term perspective and a depiction of its present consequences. It is specifically explained, how an indigenous, hand-made, domestic and female pottery-production system has turned into an essentially male, wheel-thrown and workshop activity. After a series of significant events, the Indian village of Pomaire gained a reputation as a potter’s village. The several changes underwent by its population as regards to pottery production makes it an interesting example to analyse the origin and development of a process of technological change which ended up with the displacement of women from pottery-making and the introduction of the means for mechanised production during the 1980s. Thus, the social and technical transformations which have taken place since colonial times (beginning of the 16th century), for the potters of Pomaire are explained, enlarged on their history in order to contribute to a general reflection.","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"140 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77517900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Old World Methods, New World Pots. The Introduction of the Potter’s Wheel to the Spanish Colonies of Concepción de la Vega and Cotuí (Dominican Republic 1495–1562)","authors":"Marlieke Ernst","doi":"10.24916/iansa.2021.2.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.10","url":null,"abstract":"Wheel-made ceramics from early colonial Caribbean sites (1492–1562) have traditionally been labelled as European imports. This paper challenges that assumption, as the intercultural interactions within colonies in the New World have led to the creation of new social identities and changing material culture repertoires. Macro-trace ceramic analysis from the sites of Concepción de la Vega and Cotuí (Hispaniola, present-day Dominican Republic) show that the potter’s wheel was in fact introduced to the Spanish colonies at an early stage. The evidence of RKE (rotative kinetic energy) on sherds and the discovery of parts of a potter’s wheel are the earliest traces of the potter’s wheel found in the Americas. Here we aim to present how the potter’s wheel was introduced within the context of transcultural pottery forming. This paper will show that traditional coiling techniques were supplemented with finishing techniques on the wheel. The transformation processes within ceramic repertoires are assessed through theories of colonialism and learning processes, combined with archaeological and ethnoarchaeological assessment of the ceramic chaîne opératoire. Evidence from ceramic analysis is combined with historical sources to understand social processes surrounding the technological changes behind the introduction of the potter’s wheel to the New World colonies.","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"411 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78136185","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Contextualising Artisanal Interplay and Technological Changes on Iron Age Naxos (Cyclades). Some Preliminary Observations","authors":"Xenia Charalambidou","doi":"10.24916/iansa.2021.2.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/iansa.2021.2.15","url":null,"abstract":"Iron Age Naxos in the Cyclades offers a nuanced insight into potting traditions of fine and coarse wares. Geometric Naxian coarse-ware pots belong to a hand-building tradition that was practised alongside Naxian wheel-made fine wares. Although hand-built, certain Naxian coarse vessels, i.e., storage amphorae and cooking jugs, from the second half of the 8th century BC onwards, show the use of rotational devices in roughouts and shaping to varying degrees, as preserved in the Tsikalario cemetery in inland Naxos. This thematic review, which serves as an introduction to on-going research, sets out the goals and approaches of a technological study which is also investigating the use of rotational devices on Iron Age Naxian vessels alongside other co-existing (hand-made) potting traditions. It is argued that such technological phenomena/changes observed are part of a wider picture that includes interactions and cross-fertilisation between ceramic artisans in the Iron Age settlements of the island.","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"12 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79271639","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Petrography and Micromorphology Face-to-Face: the Potential of Multivocality in the Study of Earth-Based Archaeological Materials","authors":"Susanna Cereda, P. Fragnoli","doi":"10.24916/IANSA.2021.1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/IANSA.2021.1.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"7 1","pages":"9-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74365009","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"On the Tracks of Aswan Pink Clay. New Studies on the Local Clay Deposits in the Region of Aswan/Upper Egypt","authors":"Laura Rembart, Lisa Betina","doi":"10.24916/IANSA.2021.1.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.24916/IANSA.2021.1.3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":38054,"journal":{"name":"Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica","volume":"41 1","pages":"37-44"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85901987","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}