Material Culture and Cultural Meanings

Current Studies of Archaeological Ceramics and in Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology

Bibliographic Data

ID12415516
AuthorsCharles C Kolb (0000-0001-8861-336X, National Endowment for the Humanities, corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume10
Issue1
Pages25-25
Publication date2000-05-29
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBulletin of the History of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1062-4740 • E-ISSN: 2047-6930
PublisherUbiquity Press, Ltd. (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.5334/bha.10108
OpenAlexW2129474503
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited12

Pottery and People: A Dynamic Interaction. James M. Skibo and Gary M. Feinman (editors). Founda­tions of Archaeological Inquiry. Salt Lake City. University of Utah Press. 1999. 260 pp. 91 figures. 30 tables. ISBN 0-87480-576-7. $55.00 (cloth); 0-87489-577-5. $25.00 (paperback).Material Meanings: Critical Approaches to the Interpretation of Material Culture. Elizabeth S. Chilton (editor). Foundations of Archaeological Inquiry. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. 1999.179pp. 35 figures. 11 tables. ISBN 0-87480-632-1. $55.00 (cloth); 087480-633-X. $35.00 (paperback).The description and interpretation of material culture may be regarded as the essence of archaeology, a discipline that seeks to recover, describe, document, and interpret past human culture. More recently, understanding that actions occur in a material world that is constituted symbolically, archaeological explanations are often framed in sociocultural meanings, the analysis of agencies, practices and behaviors. I shall subsequently return to this issue. Because of their longevity in the archaeological record, lithic and ceramic artifacts are crucial to the endeavor to interpret human culture. Objects fashioned from clay and subjected to intentional artificial sources of heat made their initial appearance in the archaeological record more than 26.000 years ago. Ceramic objects have been created in a seemingly endless variety of shapes and forms, varying from fertility figurines. to cooking and food storage vessels. lamps, smoking pipes, medicinal pastilles, tokens, beehives, and coffins to modern whitewares and pyroceramics

Archaeological evidence · Archaeological record · Archaeology · Assemblage (archaeology · Ethnoarchaeology · Interpretation (philosophy · Linguistics · Pottery · Salt lake · Sociocultural evolution · Sociology · Anthropology · Archaeological Research and Protection · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History · Philosophy · Geology

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