Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ceramics are one of humanity’s most durable products. The common geological presence, variability, and plasticity of their main ingredient—clay—and the additive nature of their manufacturing process have afforded humans remarkable creativity and space for social expression. People in separate parts of the world, at different times, in diverse social, economic, and ecological contexts have produced them in various fabrics (from earthenwares to porcelains) to satisfy needs that ranged from the quotidian to the cosmological. As a result, they are invaluable to archaeologists/archaeometrists for answering diverse research questions. Ceramic analyses examine the selection and preparation of raw materials; the manufacturing, firing, and decorative methods; and the shape, size, use, distribution, reuse, and discard of the final product, as well as decorative designs. Ceramic ecology and chaîne opératoire are guiding mid-range theoretical approaches, supported by archaeometric, geoarchaeological, and ethnoarchaeological methods. The goal of this new annual Society for American Archaeology symposium is to present and assess current ceramic research from around the world, at different scales, using varied methods and theoretical approaches. This new series is sponsored by the Society for Archaeological Sciences and continues a 35-year tradition of ceramic presentations at the American Anthropological Association meetings.

Other Keywords
Ceramic Analysis • Archaeometry & Materials Analysis • Communities of Practice • Worldwide • Craft Production • Trade and exchange • Material Culture and Technology • Neolithic • Long-distance exchange • Archaeometry & Materials Analysis: INAA

Geographic Keywords
North America (Continent) • United Mexican States (Country) • Kyrgyz Republic (Country) • Japan (Country) • Asia (Continent) • Mongolia (Country) • Republic of India (Country) • People's Republic of Bangladesh (Country) • Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Country) • Union of Myanmar (Country)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-27 of 27)

  • Documents (27)
Documents
  • Archaeometric studies of pottery from activity areas found in the multiethnic neighborhood center of Teopancazco, Teotihuacan, Central Mexico (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Linda Manzanilla.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the metropolis of Teotihuacan, Central Mexico, the ca. 22 neighborhoods are the most dynamic social units of this multiethnic society. Teopancazco is one of the southeastern neighborhood centers; it was excavated by Linda R. Manzanilla and her students during 13 field seasons (1997-2005), and studied in an interdisciplinary perspective, including...

  • Ceramic Production in Epiclassic Central Mexico: Strategies for Assessing Regional Variation with INAA, Paste Recipes, and Stylistic Choices (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Destiny Crider. Samuel Nelson. Ian Gonzales.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Epiclassic Central Mexico (ca. AD 550–850) is characterized by competing city-states in which ceramic distribution aligns with a series of neighboring solar market economies. INAA compositional study provides key evidence for assessing multiscalar patterns of production of diagnostic and decorated ceramic wares in the Basin of Mexico and Tula...

  • Ceramic Technology beyond the Rim: Reconstructing (and Firing) a Late Neolithic Chinese Kiln (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Camilla Sturm. Liam Hayes. Anna Campbell.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The past several decades have seen a shift in the focus of ceramic studies in Neolithic China from ceramic products toward ceramic production, as scholars have pushed beyond typological analyses to investigate the people who made, handled, and used these wares. Despite this turn toward process, comparatively little attention is given to the many...

  • Challenges in the Identification of Fresh Volcanic Glass Shards in Ancient Maya Pottery Sherds (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Anabel Ford. Frank Speraq.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The major components of ceramics consist of clay and temper. It is assumed that these components are local. The Maya lowlands are dominated by limestone, and its use as temper is ubiquitous. Therefore, the distinct presence of fresh volcanic ash in the Late Classic period pottery is noteworthy. Efforts to identify a local volcanic source closer than...

  • Combined 2D and 3D analysis of ceramic sherds for thermal conductivity simulations (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Chandra Reedy.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Measuring thermal conductivity of archaeological ceramics is useful because it is an important functional performance characteristic of vessels used for cooking or serving food or preparing or drinking hot beverages. The amount, size, and distribution of particles and pores greatly affect thermal conductivity, so this is a property that can be...

  • Communities of potters, chefs and eaters: a multi-analytical approach to technology and use of archaeological ceramics from Northwestern Argentina (ca. 200 BC-AD 900) (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Agustina Vazquez Fiorani.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The development of ceramic technology produced substantial transformations in people’s foodways and cuisine, expanding the répertoire of existent ingredients, culinary techniques, storage capacities, among others. Thus, exploring the dimensions of ceramic technology and use amongst early farming societies holds the heuristic potential to explore...

  • Compositional and Stylistic Analysis of Texcoco-Molded Censers and Molds from the Gulf Lowland Frontier of the Aztec Empire (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Matthew Meyer. Marcie Venter. Christopher Pool.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past 20 years a growing assemblage of Aztec-style ceramics, specifically Texcoco Molded censers and molds, has been recovered from sites throughout the northeastern Tochtepec province of the Triple Alliance Empire. In this presentation, we examine the chemical compositions using pXRF, paste recipes, and decorative attributes and...

  • Cultural Identity and Ceramic Practice in Northern Togo, West Africa (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary Ownby.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. <html> Togo, West Africa, is a unique cultural landscape with a diversity of groups making and utilizing pottery. This is particularly true for the Bassar area of northern Togo where four groups interact, the Lamba, the Kotokoli, the Konkomba, and the Kabiye. Several villages continue to make pottery and likely made it in the past. To clarify...

  • The Diaspora of Eighteenth-Century Mexican Figurines: The intersection of Spain, Mexico, and La Florida (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Cynthia Otis Charlton. Danielle Dadiego. Judith Bense.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In Spanish West Florida, a military presidio was established in 1698 to try to protect Spanish shipping and interests in the naturally deepwater port of the Pensacola Bay from constantly encroaching British and French pressure. Over the next 65 years the presidio was moved four times, enduring British-led Indian raids, French occupations, and eight...

  • Establishing Ceramic Source Groups in Florida Using a Multi-method Approach (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Robert Tykot. McKenna Douglass. Whitney Goodwin. Zachary Atlas. Michael Glascock.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. More than 500 ceramic artifacts from four prehistoric sites in Pinellas County, Florida, were analyzed nondestructively using a portable XRF spectrometer to address research questions about local production and potential movement or exchange over significant distances. All dating to the Safety Harbor period (ca. AD 900–1500), at least 100 diagnostic...

  • Experimental XRD, FTIR, and EDX Analysis of Preclassic Maya Pottery of El Pilar (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Anabel Ford.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. <html> Our experimental analyses of five Middle Preclassic Maya pottery sherds were performed using XRD, ATR-FTIR, and FESEM-EDX. The study indicated that the samples can be divided into two groups associated with ceramic paste types. Mars Orange sherds made up Group 1 and small jars made up Group 2 samples. XRD separated groups by quartz and...

  • Fine-Scale Investigation of Changes in the Ceramic Production Using Sherd Temper in the Mt. Trumbull Area of the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, Arizona (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sachiko Sakai.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This study is a part of an investigation into the adaptation patterns among the small-scale farmers who lived in a very marginal environment in the American Southwest. The examination of the changes in the ceramic production and distribution in the Mt. Trumbull and adjacent areas was conducted using LA-ICP-MS and optically stimulated luminescence...

  • How to Make a Cooking Pot on Lesvos, Greece (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Peter Day.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cooking pots do a job, a hard job. As a result, we have enshrined them as a special measure of ceramic functional suitability, a witness to know-how, and even technological progress. This paper explores the production of cooking pots by three different groups of potters on the island of Lesvos, Greece over the course of the twentieth century until...

  • <html>Landa’s <i>auto de fe</i> and the destruction of the “idols” of Maní: Petrographic and Chemical Analysis of Incensarios from Maní, Mexico</html> (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only George Bey.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2015, an archaeological rescue program was carried out in Maní, Yucatán, related to improvements in the main square with the aim of designating Mani as a "magical town". The excavations produced numerous fragments of the “idols” destroyed during the so-called auto de fe organized by Diego de Landa in Mani (1562) punishing the Maya population for...

  • Imperial Public Relations: What can ceramic sciences (actually) tell us about political consolidation? (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Anna Cohen.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeologists and other scholars find that, today and in the past, political entities like states and empires were diverse and sometimes short-lived. This means that the integration of diverse communities required a targeted and organized approach that served as an ancient public relations campaign for political elites. Material evidence for these...

  • Interregional Interaction during Inka Rule: The Production and Circulation of Inka- Pacajes Pottery in Northern Chile (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ester Echenique.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The provincial ceramic style of Inka-Pacajes, which originated in the Bolivian altiplano, is well-known for its bowls and plates decorated with small black llamas on an orange to red background. It is widely found across the southern Inka Empire (Collasuyu) in contexts that suggest it was circulated by the state. It is thus a possible example of the...

  • Introduction: Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Charles Kolb. Kostalena Michelaki. Sandra López Varala.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In any academic discipline, the sociology of knowledge, involving the creation and sustenance of networks, is often as important as the knowledge itself to discover and disseminate scientific information. This session celebrates and reveals the critical role of Frederick R. Matson (†), Charles C. Kolb, and Louana M. Lackey (†) in creating and...

  • Maya Blue: Unlocking the Mysteries of an Ancient Pigment (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dean Arnold.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As one of the world’s most unusual pigments, Maya Blue consists of a nano-structured hybrid of the inorganic clay mineral palygorskite and the organic dye indigo derived from extracts from the leaves of plants in the genus Indigofera. Used from the Late Preclassic into the early colonial period, Maya Blue, among other meanings, was a symbol of...

  • The Mesoamerican Ceramic Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) Database at MURR: History, Current Status, and Future Directions (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Whitney Goodwin. Hector Neff. Daniel Pierce. Michael Glascock.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the nearly 35 years since the Archaeometry Laboratory at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) was founded, the Mesoamerican Ceramic NAA database has grown to almost 30,000 entries spanning Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and beyond. This paper presents the history of how the database came together,...

  • Micro-CT Scanning with 3D Image Analysis of Pore Systems in Sherds as a Tool to Understand Performance Characteristics of Archaeological Ceramics (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Chandra Reedy.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Characterizing a ceramic pore system reveals information about use properties and functionality. Pores making up the system include some that are isolated and others with connections to other pores, some connected to the ceramic surface and others interior-only, and variation exists in pore size and shape and connection size and directness. The...

  • New Insights into Bronze Age Ceramic Production in Northwestern China: Petrographic Analysis of Qijia and Shajing Materials from the Andersson Collections (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Andrew Womack. Anke Hein. Ole Stilborg.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The late Neolithic to late Bronze Age periods (ca. 2300–400 BCE) in what is now northwestern China was a time of significant technological and social change. Based on limited excavation and survey, it has been suggested that major changes took place in subsistence technologies, including a potential shift from sedentary farming to mobile herding, as...

  • Pan-American Ceramics Project: Increasing the Accessibility and Interoperability of Ceramic Data in the Digital Age (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kostalena Michelaki. Andrea Torvinen. Andrea Berlin.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Pottery is a powerful tool for understanding past societies. The timing and function of a site, the nature and rhythms of daily life, and the social relations of site inhabitants with each other and with people from far away regions are questions archaeologists ask of ceramic data regularly. The power of such data can be greatly enhanced when they...

  • Salt and Plumbate: Late Classic Multi-crafting in Eastern Soconusco, Chiapas, Mexico (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Hector Neff.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological mounds within the mangrove zone west of the Rio Cahuacan, in far-southern Chiapas, Mexico, have dense surface remains of broken Plumbate pottery, solid ceramic cylinders, and various other kinds of pyro-technological evidence. Clays from the region match Tohil Plumbate chemical composition, thus solidifying the inference that the...

  • Slips and Lasers: Characterizing White Slip Clays on Salado Polychrome Ceramics from the Phoenix Basin of Arizona using LA-ICP-MS (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Caitlin Wichlacz.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Salado polychrome pottery (Roosevelt Red Ware) was produced in numerous locations across the American Southwest between ca. 1300 and 1450 CE. In this study, we use laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of white slip clays on Salado polychrome pottery from the Phoenix Basin of Arizona, paired with the results of...

  • Social impact of ethnoarchaeological research on ceramics in the Comitán region, Chiapas, México (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ramon Folch.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This work focuses on the social changes observed after 5 years of studying pottery making in the Eastern Highlands of Chiapas. Pottery making among the descendants of Tojolabal Maya is documented to compare techniques and materials used in Protohistoric period (1500-1600) wares with modern ones. During this research we established close...

  • Urbanization and Ceramic Consumption at the Late Neolithic Settlement of Liangchengzhen (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Anne Underhill. Fengshi Luan. Fen Wang.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Excavations at the Longshan period settlement of Liangchengzhen in southeastern Shandong have uncovered large quantities and diverse forms of ceramic vessels from contexts representing each phase of occupation. This paper explores consumption patterns for ceramic vessels in one neighborhood during eight phases of occupation estimated to represent...

  • Using Petrographic Analyses to Describe Changes in Paste Formulas for Ceramics Spanning 1200BCE-1530CE in Three Adjoining Valleys within Southeast Mesoamerica (2025)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Patricia Urban.

    This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Petrographic and Instrumental Neutron Activation analyses of red-on-natural ceramics dating to CE600-1000 revealed complex relations among paste compositions and modes of vessel manufacture across five pottery workshops operating in three adjoining Northwest Honduran valleys. For example, these artisans generally employed volcanic glass fragments as...