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Maya ceramics are ceramics produced in the Pre-Columbian Maya culture of Mesoamerica. The vessels used different colors, sizes, and had varied purposes. Vessels for the elite could be painted with very detailed scenes, while utilitarian vessels were undecorated or much simpler. Elite pottery, usually in the form of straight-sided beakers called "vases", used for drinking, was placed in burials, giving a number of survivals in good condition. Individual examples include the Princeton Vase and the Fenton Vase.
Ethnoarchaeology is the ethnographic study of peoples for archaeological reasons, usually through the study of the material remains of a society. Ethnoarchaeology aids archaeologists in reconstructing ancient lifeways by studying the material and non-material traditions of modern societies. Ethnoarchaeology also aids in the understanding of the way an object was made and the purpose of what it is being used for. Archaeologists can then infer that ancient societies used the same techniques as their modern counterparts given a similar set of environmental circumstances.
In archaeology, a typology is the result of the classification of things according to their physical characteristics. The products of the classification, i.e. the classes, are also called types. Most archaeological typologies organize portable artifacts into types, but typologies of larger structures, including buildings, field monuments, fortifications or roads, are equally possible. A typology helps to manage a large mass of archaeological data. According to Doran and Hodson, "this superficially straightforward task has proved one of the most time consuming and contentious aspects of archaeological research".
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To understand past cultures archaeologists analyze many artifacts. Pottery proves to be of most importance to the archaeological record. Pottery is durable and even allows its broken fragments to withstand time, which would otherwise decompose other artifacts. More importantly, the style of pottery often changes through time, and shifts in shape, size, or decoration can be used to resolve the age of the artifact and/or site. Furthermore, though pottery is common, different cultures had their own distinct styles that can be used to determine its similarities or differences with one another. Therefore, even fragments of pottery can reconstruct many facets of past cultures.
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James M. Skibo was an American archaeologist who was the State Archaeologist of Wisconsin from 2021 to 2023. His archaeological research focused on the production and use of ceramics as well as the theory of archaeology and ethnoarchaeology. He was mainly concerned with the Great Lakes, the Southwest United States, and the Philippines.
In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life was originally published in 1977 by anthropologist James Deetz. The book presents the idea that small objects can play big parts in an individual's life, and should therefore not be taken lightly in an archaeological investigation. The book is one of Deetz's most popular, and has become a staple piece of literature for those studying historical archaeology.
Behavioural archaeology is an archaeological theory that expands upon the nature and aims of archaeology in regards to human behaviour and material culture. The theory was first published in 1975 by American archaeologist Michael B. Schiffer and his colleagues J. Jefferson Reid, and William L. Rathje. The theory proposes four strategies that answer questions about past, and present cultural behaviour. It is also a means for archaeologists to observe human behaviour and the archaeological consequences that follow.
Carol Kramer was an American archaeologist known for conducting ethnoarchaeology research in the Middle East and South Asia. Kramer also advocated for women in anthropology and archaeology, receiving the Squeaky Wheel Award from the Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology in 1999. Kramer co-wrote Ethnoarchaeology in Action (2001) with Nicolas David, the first comprehensive text on ethnoarchaeology, and received the Award for Excellence in Archaeological Analysis posthumously in 2003.
Edward Bruce (Ted) Banning is a Canadian archaeologist and professor at the University of Toronto. He was born in Montreal in 1955 but has lived in Toronto for most of his life. His research focuses on the beginnings of village life and political-economic inequality in southwest Asia, especially in the Neolithic, and concentrates on the southern Levant. He has also been very involved in theoretical and methodological research on archaeological survey.
William A. Longacre II was an American archaeologist and one of the founders of the processual "New Archaeology" of the 1960s.
References
- 1 2 "Valentine Roux". CNRS.
- 1 2 "Dr. Valentine Roux". AcademiaNet. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
- 1 2 Roux, Valentine (2019). Ceramics and Society | SpringerLink. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-03973-8. ISBN 978-3-030-03972-1. S2CID 115366396.
- ↑ "New Editors 2019". Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. Springer. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
- ↑ Burke, Clare (2020). "Valentine Roux, in collaboration with Courty M.-A. Ceramics and Society: A Technological Approach to Archaeological Assemblages. (Springer: Switzerland, 2019, 329pp, 46 b/w illustrations, 102 in colour, hbk, ISBN 978-3-030-03972-1)". European Journal of Archaeology. 23 (3): 476–479. doi:10.1017/eaa.2020.28. S2CID 225430760.
