Archaeological Ceramic Analysis as a Vehicle for Anthropological Holism at 1607 James Fort: An Essay in Honor of Dr. Joseph W. Ball

Author(s): Seth Mallios

Year: 2018

Summary

Joseph W. Ball spent a highly successful and influential career identifying archaeological insights into the Maya through detailed, rigorous, and creative ceramic analyses. In honor of his many contributions, this paper draws on Dr. Ball’s methodological and theoretical approaches by using ceramics as a springboard for deeper anthropological discussions into daily life at Jamestown Island, Virginia during the first half century of English settlement (1607-1657). Distinctions in artifact frequencies between Fort-Period and Post-Fort Period features uncovered by members of the ongoing Jamestown Rediscovery Project are consistent throughout nearly every artifact type are most pronounced among ceramics. Expanding the analysis from a core dimensional focus on space, time, and form to broader thematic issues of diachronic trade patterns and intercultural exchange laterality, this presentation identifies key nuances in exchange directionality and economic inequity that reflected the deterioration of English/Powhatan Indian relations during the first quarter of the 17th century. Drawing in other subfields of anthropology in a holistic manner—another cornerstone of Joe Ball’s research—it becomes clear that the sequence from bilateral intercultural exchange to unilateral intercultural exchange to no exchange at all was not only a barometer of failing relations; it was a catalyst as well.

Cite this Record

Archaeological Ceramic Analysis as a Vehicle for Anthropological Holism at 1607 James Fort: An Essay in Honor of Dr. Joseph W. Ball. Seth Mallios. Presented at The 82nd Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Washington, DC. 2018 ( tDAR id: 444556)

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Spatial Coverage

min long: -124.189; min lat: 31.803 ; max long: -105.469; max lat: 43.58 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 19923