How Long Did It Take to Paint Ancestral Pueblo Pottery?

Summary

One of the basic goals of ceramic analysis is to reconstruct the manufacturing process. The sequence of production may be easy to infer but the duration of each step is elusive. For instance, archaeologists have yet to devise a method for estimating how long potters spent painting vessels. In the American Southwest, Ancestral Pueblo potters seem to have invested considerable time in these pursuits. Drawing on ethnoarchaeological scholarship, Pueblo ethnographies, and experimental archaeology, I present a new method that estimates minimum painting duration based on the organization and structure of brushstrokes. The latter mark discrete movements of the ancient potter’s hand as s/he crafted, step-by-step, the overall design layout. Using examples from the Ancestral Pueblo world, I discuss what these estimates of painting time tell us about the social dimensions of ceramic production.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22014