Overview

Pottery is one of humankind’s most important inventions. It is thousands of years old, and it is fair to say that without it the development of civilization as we know it would not have been possible. Food preparation and storage, religion and ritual, wine-making, trade, art, and architecture, among many other human achievements, were all aided by pottery, an artificial material that lent itself to the elaboration of all kinds of objects: vessels, figurines, roof tiles, water pipes, fishnet weights, and tablets inscribed with the earliest forms of writing, to name but a few; a veritable litany of human creativity. This book examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology; undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of archaeological research in Mexico today.

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9781784916732

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The author’s… argument situates the ethnoarchaeological method/theory as the… outcome of a deep anthropological archaeology tradition. Furthermore, the utility of ethnoarchaeology to theory building and bridging arguments in archaeology as well as sociocultural anthropology [is] highlighted amiably. The greater value of the [book]… is the concise reporting of the fieldwork illustrating the patterned physical manifestations of routine potting in and about households valuable to archaeologists reconstructing ancient pathways… — Kirk D. Straight, Ethnoarchaeology, 2020 Williams deftly weaves… a compelling argument for incorporating modern ethnographic observance as suggested bridging methods for understanding… intangible cultural components in the archaeological record to serve as points of departure for reconstructing ancient craft creation processes… — Lorraine A. Williams-Beck, Latin American Antiquity, 30(4), 2019

The author's... argument situates the ethnoarchaeological method/theory as the... outcome of a deep anthropological archaeology tradition. Furthermore, the utility of ethnoarchaeology to theory building and bridging arguments in archaeology as well as sociocultural anthropology [is] highlighted amiably. The greater value of the [book]... is the concise reporting of the fieldwork illustrating the patterned physical manifestations of routine potting in and about households valuable to archaeologists reconstructing ancient pathways... - Kirk D. Straight, Ethnoarchaeology, 2020 Williams deftly weaves... a compelling argument for incorporating modern ethnographic observance as suggested bridging methods for understanding... intangible cultural components in the archaeological record to serve as points of departure for reconstructing ancient craft creation processes... - Lorraine A. Williams-Beck, Latin American Antiquity, 30(4), 2019

Author Information

Eduardo Williams received his Ph.D. in archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology at University College London (1989). He is the author of the following recent books: Water Folk: Reconstructing an Ancient Aquatic Lifeway in Michoacán, Western Mexico (2014) and The Salt of the Earth: Ethnoarchaeology of Salt Production in Michoacán, Western Mexico (2015), and co-editor of Cultural Dynamics and Production Activities in Ancient Western Mexico (2016). Dr. Williams is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Alfonso Caso Award (from the Mexican Council for Culture and Arts, and the National Institute of Anthropology and History) for outstanding archaeological research (2003).

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