Practicing Informal Apprenticeship: a study of learning landscapes in 15th-16th century potting groups in upstate New York

Summary

Pottery vessels that are produced by younger community members are highly effective avenues for addressing learning structures and social interactions of Great Lakes potting groups. Yet, learner actions are often isolated by archaeologists from the actions of experienced potters in the belief that variation is random and does not follow similar stylistic and manufacturing practices. Furthermore, traditional belief portrays pottery learning as passive transmission of knowledge, an interpretation that hinders understanding of potting interactions and removes the role of children in cultural production. This paper discusses the application of a proposed methodological framework to address learner vessels. Pottery samples from the A.D 15th-16th century villages of Garoga, Klock, and Smith-Pagerie in upstate New York were assessed to systematically identify the relation between adult vessels and learner vessels. Rather than grounding indicators of skill in decorative aesthetics, the author evaluates shaping and modification methods and fine motor-skill execution. The author argues that Great Lakes potters participated in active forms of informal apprenticeship to acquire the needed knowledge to maintain longstanding potting traditions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage