EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2272456
Oinam Premchand Singh
{"title":"Production and Exchange Networks of Cord-marked Pottery from Oinam Village in Manipur, Northeast India: An Ethnoarchaeological Perspective","authors":"Oinam Premchand Singh","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2272456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2272456","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThe production of cord-marked pottery in the village of Oinam, located in the Indian state of Manipur, is practiced by the women potters of the Poumai Nagas, an Indigenous Tibeto-Burman ethnic community. A two-week ethnographic study was conducted in 2021 among the Poumai Nagas to document the dynamics of the production process and oral accounts of the potters and other villagers including residents from the non-pottery-producing Naga villages. While there is decreasing demand for earthen vessels today, the survey's outcome suggests a large exchange network and interaction in the Naga Hills centered on the pottery of Oinam. This network facilitated trade and fostered political and economic alliances among the Naga communities. The study also supports the claim of regional exchange networks in the region in the past and further documents that cord-marked pottery formed a significant trade item.KEYWORDS: Ethnoarchaeologycommunity-based researchcord-marked potteryPoumai NagasNaga HillsManipurNortheast Indiatradetradition AcknowledgmentsI want to thank Bowang Kho and Dr. Nathan Kho from the village of Oinam for their help and support during the research. Thanks are also due to the villagers of Oinam for their keen support during my field survey. I also extend my thanks to the anonymous reviewers for providing their insightful comments on the earlier draft of this paper. All illustrations and photos are by the author unless otherwise noted.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingI received no funding for the research presented in this article.Notes on contributorsOinam Premchand SinghOinam Premchand Singh is an assistant professor in the Department of History at Mangolnganbi College in Manipur, India. He holds a doctorate degree (2023) in archaeology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His Ph.D. work was on megaliths in the Naga Hills of Manipur. He also has a keen interest in visual anthropology and has conducted archaeological and ethnographic surveys in the Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur.","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"35 5","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135271175","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-10-20DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2268373
Xuyang Gao, Anke Hein, Patrick Quinn
{"title":"Tea for Two: The Dual Modes of Contemporary <i>Zisha</i> Teaware Production and their Implications for Archaeological Research","authors":"Xuyang Gao, Anke Hein, Patrick Quinn","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2268373","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2268373","url":null,"abstract":"In archaeology, ceramics receive much attention because they are abundant in many archaeological contexts, chronologically sensitive, and provide a good window into past human behaviors, in particular decision-making in ceramic production which reflects past communities of practice and individual actions. While most studies tend to rely heavily on differences in object shape and style to distinguish between different periods and cultural contexts, the present ethnographic study focuses on one object type, namely zisha teapots from Yixing, China, to explore the hidden diversity in potting behaviors resulting in products that are visually nearly identical in form and style. The article raises awareness of potential differences in raw materials, techniques, and markets for the production of morphologically similar vessels, which would be categorized as the same “type” within typological ceramic classification, and calls for careful evaluation of the complexities within technological practices and their corresponding social boundaries.","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135618673","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-10-18DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2269791
John W. Arthur
{"title":"Bridging Ethnoarchaeology and Archaeology in the Ethiopian Gamo Highlands","authors":"John W. Arthur","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2269791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2269791","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACTThis article is a case study that applies long-term ceramic ethnoarchaeology to recent archaeological research in the Gamo region of Ethiopia. The region is located on the western escarpment of the Great Rift Valley. Today, an important cultural characteristic of the Gamo is their caste system. They divide society into occupational castes including Mala farmers and Tsoma artisans who are segregated in their access to land and food resources. Working collaboratively with Gamo Boreda elders, we located a historic Mala household at the archaeological site of Ochollo Mulato (1270–1950 CE) and an artisan household at the archaeological site of Garu (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries CE). The historic archaeological pottery assemblages from Ochollo Mulato and Garu are considered in light of thirty years of Gamo ceramic ethnoarchaeological research to understand changes in subsistence and social organization through time.KEYWORDS: GamoEthiopiacastepotteryceramicsfeastingbeerculinary AcknowledgmentsI would like to first thank the Gamo people for accepting me into their communities and homes, and for being gracious hosts and teachers. Each time I am fortunate to be in Gamo, they teach me new expressions of thought, and for this I am grateful. This article is dedicated to Jim Skibo, friend, and mentor. I thank Brenda Bowser for inviting Tania Valamoti and me to contribute a Special Issue in the journal Ethnoarchaeology as an outcome of the WAC-9 session Breaking Bread and Raising a Glass: Bridging Ethnoarchaeological and Archaeological Research on Food and Culinary Habits. My field research experience is always enhanced because I am lucky to have Kathryn Weedman Arthur and Matthew C. Curtis as colleagues and friends. I thank Kathryn Arthur for creating Figure 2 and Matthew C. Curtis for producing Figure 8 and Figure 10. I thank the reviewers who took the time to review the manuscript. Permission for this research was given by the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, which is part of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Culture. Each day Kathy and Hannah Arthur confirm to me that love is more than a dream.Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the National Science Foundation [Grant Number BCS-1027607], the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and Tampa.Notes on contributorsJohn W. ArthurJohn W. Arthur is Professor of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. He has worked in Ethiopia since 1995 conducting ceramic ethnoarchaeological and Holocene archaeological research. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities and has published two books as well as numerous articles in journals such as Science, Nature, and PNAS. While working in Ethiopia, Dr. Arthur began to research the importance of beer in contemporary people’s","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"248-249 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135883519","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2263259
Annie Ross
{"title":"Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories): Narratives of Rock Art from Yanyuwa Country in Northern Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria <b>Jakarda Wuka (Too Many Stories): Narratives of Rock Art from Yanyuwa Country in Northern Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria</b> , li-Yanyuwa li-Wirdiwanangu (Yanyuwa Elders), Liam Brady, John Bradley, and Amanda Kearney, Sydney, Sydney University Press, 2023, pp. xxx+319, AUD $50 (paperback), ISBN 9781743328774 (paperback), ISBN 9781743328781 (epub), ISBN 9781743328798 (pdf)","authors":"Annie Ross","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2263259","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2263259","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"97 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134974303","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-09-05DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2254927
Robert K. Hitchcock
{"title":"The Scarcity Slot: Excavating Histories of Food Security in Ghana","authors":"Robert K. Hitchcock","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2254927","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2254927","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"23 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80722515","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-08-18DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2245214
Li Liu, Zhongwei Liu
{"title":"Millet Beer Brewing in North China: Exploring Traditional Methods and their Significance in Archaeological Research","authors":"Li Liu, Zhongwei Liu","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2245214","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2245214","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT China's alcohol production tradition dates back 9000 years to the early Neolithic era, with multiple types of alcohol recorded in ancient texts. However, these records lack sufficient detail about production processes for different alcohol types. Experimental archaeology, especially when informed by ethnographic observations, offers valuable insights into traditional brewing methods. Here, we present an ethnographic study of huangjiu (yellow beer) production by a local farming family in Henan province, North China, using wheat qu (a moldy grain starter) and foxtail millet. We conducted experimental brewing following the traditional method and analyzed the qu starter and fermented materials microscopically. This approach improved our understanding of morphological changes in starch and fungal elements during fermentation, serving as a comparative reference for studying ancient alcohol remains in archaeological contexts.","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86621743","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2217733
N. Martínez-Tagüeña, Lorenzo Herrera Casanova, Luz Alicia Torres Cubillas
{"title":"Blood and Pearls: Cazoopin (Colonial Spaniards) in the Comcaac Region of Mexico","authors":"N. Martínez-Tagüeña, Lorenzo Herrera Casanova, Luz Alicia Torres Cubillas","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2217733","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2217733","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In collaboration with Comcaac (Seris) Indigenous community members from the Sonoran coast of Mexico, this study integrates ethnographic, archaeological, documentary, and oral historical data to better understand the Comcaac past relevant to the present. This is the first publication of Comcaac historical accounts about the Cazoopin, or colonial Spaniards, extending back to AD 1750 and earlier. We document Comcaac people’s first encounters with Spanish sailing ships and their opportunistic adoption of Spanish material culture. Oral accounts are combined with evidence from archaeological survey of named places and archival documents, particularly Pimentel’s Diary of Governor Ortiz Parrilla’s 1750 expedition to Tahejcö (Tiburón Island). For the Sonoran colonial period, previous reconstructions have been based on archaeological evidence and archival documents written by Spanish Empire representatives; here, we encourage the incorporation of Indigenous voices to understand economic, social, political, and ecological dimensions of the past that condition the creation of different historical narratives.","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"20 1","pages":"24 - 49"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82606518","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2224200
H. G. Nami
{"title":"Replicating the Manufacturing Sequence of Ground Discoidal Biconvex Stones from Southeastern South America: Experimental Research","authors":"H. G. Nami","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2224200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2224200","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Ground discoidal lenticular stones are common archaeological finds in southeastern South America in the area of southern Brazil, northeastern Argentina, and Uruguay. As part of an ongoing experimental program to explore and understand diverse aspects of lithic technologies from the Americas, this article reports a preliminary experiment dedicated to replicating this particular artifact. The research was performed to explore the techniques and stages of manufacture from obtaining the blank to the finished product. This article reports the experiment and proposes a four-stage model of a production sequence employing multiple techniques of lithic reduction (flaking, grinding, pecking, and polishing). The study takes into account the methods, implements, stages of manufacture, characteristics of raw materials, and other significant factors useful to discuss topics related to the traditional technological knowledge involved in the manufacturing process of these artifacts. In light of this investigation, the broader implications concerning the archaeological record are discussed.","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"205 1","pages":"50 - 78"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89319836","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2210357
Anna Franch Bach, V. Parmigiani, M. Estela Mansur, Hernán H. De Angelis, M. C. Alvarez Soncini
{"title":"Bone Awls and Basketry in Tierra del Fuego: Complementarity between Ethnography and Experimentation","authors":"Anna Franch Bach, V. Parmigiani, M. Estela Mansur, Hernán H. De Angelis, M. C. Alvarez Soncini","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2210357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2210357","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The use of rushes and bone awls for indigenous basketry is mentioned in ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources from across the Americas, including Tierra del Fuego. Our research aimed to reproduce and record the technical process of basketry and how bone awls are involved in it, according to hypotheses derived from the ethnographic data. For this study, a techno-functional approach was adopted that combines the ethnographic record, community-based research, experimentation, and microscopic functional analysis. The chaine opératoire was reproduced for basket making, from the technical processes involved in collecting and processing rushes to completion of the basket. Results confirmed the effectiveness of techniques described in the documentary sources for the manufacture of baskets of Marsippospermum grandiflorum, including the use of bone awls. Functional analysis demonstrated the formation of characteristic use-wear traces produced by this activity.","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"5 1","pages":"1 - 23"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86104125","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}
EthnoarchaeologyPub Date : 2023-01-02DOI: 10.1080/19442890.2023.2179751
Laura W. Ng
{"title":"The Archaeology of Space and Place in the West","authors":"Laura W. Ng","doi":"10.1080/19442890.2023.2179751","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/19442890.2023.2179751","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42668,"journal":{"name":"Ethnoarchaeology","volume":"06 1","pages":"84 - 85"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75948474","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}