A Fingerprint Assemblage from a Late Bronze Age Canaanite Cultic Enclosure at Tel Burna in the Southern Levant: The Division of Labor According to Age and Sex

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The identity of producers is a perennial question in the anthropological and archaeological study of craft production. Who made the vessels and figurines used for ritual practice and feasting in the Canaanite cultic enclosure at Tel Burna? Our project attempts to answer this question by determining the age and sex of fingerprints preserved on a selection of figurines, jars, bowls, chalices, and jugs, from a spacious courtyard in a Late Bronze Age cultic enclosure. We report on the age and sex determinations of epidermal print impressions based on the analysis of ridge breadth and density. The results provide direct insights into the division of labor, the social context of pottery production, and the composition/demographics of the potters provisioning the objects used for ritual practice.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36977.0