Ceramic Specialization and Agricultural Marginality

Do Ethnographic Models Explain the Development of Specialized Pottery Production in the Prehistoric American Southwest

Bibliographic Data

ID2591644
AuthorsK G Harry (0000-0002-8694-2503, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume70
Issue2
Pages295-319
Publication date2005-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/40035705
OpenAlexW2315101894
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited31

Ethnographic data indicate that historically, ceramic specialization is strongly correlated with agricultural and economic marginality. Where such specialization is concentrated geographically, it often is found in areas having agriculturally poor lands (Arnold 1985). Although this association is well established for modern-day and historic peasant communities, the degree to which this pattern extended into prehistory is unknown. In this paper, I evaluate the applicability of the agricultural marginality model to the prehistoric American Southwest by considering evidence from six areas where specialized pottery production is known to have occurred. The data from these areas suggest that, in the prehistoric Southwest, agricultural marginality was not the primary or sole factor leading to the adoption of part-time ceramic specializations. To understand why the ethnographic model does not apply to the prehistoric Southwest, attention must be focused on understanding the differing social and economic contexts within which prehistoric farmers and historic and modern-day peasants operated

Agricultural productivity · Agriculture · Archaeology · Economics · Ethnography · Geography · Peasant · Pottery · Prehistory · Production (economics) · Sociology · Anthropology · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies · History

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