Applying Digital Image Analysis to the Study of Colonoware at Late 17th- and Early 18th-Century Sites in the Lowcountry

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Emergence and Development of South Carolina Lowcountry Studies: Papers in Honor of Martha Zierden" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Past research into Colonoware assemblages across the Lowcountry has documented a high degree of variation in attributes including temper particle size, method of manufacture, vessel shape, and surface treatment. Building upon this work, we present new quantitative techniques for operationalizing the choices potters made while creating vessels. These techniques are based on digital image analysis applied to high resolution scans of sherd profiles. We conduct our study using seven Lowcountry pottery assemblages recovered from the late 14thto early 18th century contexts. The results not only demonstrate the effectiveness of this new methodology at identifying diagnostic choices made by colonoware potters, but also indicate significant differences in these choices between precolonial and colonial periods. We conclude by contextualizing these changes within the emerging colonial landscape and the systems of oppression acting on marginalized communities in the Southeast. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Emergence and Development of South Carolina Lowcountry Studies: Papers in Honor of Martha Zierden   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology