"Make little use of pots": A review of earthenware assemblages from three nutmeg plantations on the Banda Islands, Maluku Province, Indonesia.

Summary

In his 1544 voyage to Maluku, Galvao noted that residents "make little use of pots." Despite their purported "little use," earthenware is ubiquitous in Metal Age Malukan sites, but few detailed studies of these assemblages have been presented in the literature. In this paper, I reviewed the ceramic assemblages from multi-component sites in the Banda Islands, Maluku Province, Indonesia. The Banda Islands were the world's sole source of nutmeg prior to the 17th century and was a center of early experimentations in European colonialism while concurrently being a node in a regional Asian trade network. The time periods of assemblages range from Neolithic to early 20th Century. The characteristics of tempers and designs of ceramics suggest differential access to the long distance trade network based around the Banda Sea and may be associated with changing social patterns associated with the global spice trading.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• The Archaeology of Global History

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14354