Tracking the social lives of things

Biographical insights into Bronze Age pottery in Spain

Bibliographic Data

ID3265907
AuthorsAntonio Blanco-González (0000-0003-4502-9651, Durham University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume88
Issue340
Pages441-455
Publication date2014-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-598X • E-ISSN: 1745-1744
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0003598x00101103
OpenAlexW2297898014
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited20

Pottery has sometimes been compared to a living organism in its cycle of birth, life and death or discard. A biographical approach to an unusual assemblage of pottery from the Late Bronze Age site of Pico Castro in central Spain suggests that they had been used together at a communal feast. The shared social memory that they acquired thereby conferred on them a special status that resulted in their eventual placement in the pit, fine wares and coarse wares together. Thus the varied biographies of the individual vessels-and the individual sherds-eventually converged not only in their discard but in the episodes that preceded it

Ancient history · Archaeology · Assemblage (archaeology) · Bronze · Bronze Age · Pottery · Social memory · Sociology · Tracking (education) · Archaeological and Geological Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · History · Psychology