Papers/Books by Roux Valentine
Apprendre et Comprendre: de la transmission des savoirs à la structuration des sociétés " eds. J. Bachellerie, L. Anderson et F. Abbès, actes du 29e Congrès préhistorique de France (Toulouse, 2021), Paris, Société Préhistorique française, p.3-24., 2023
In this article, we first recall on the one hand that the interpretation of lithic pieces in term... more In this article, we first recall on the one hand that the interpretation of lithic pieces in terms of skill level requires the use of regularities, i.e. recurrent phenomena under certain conditions, and on the other hand that only interdisciplinary studies, combining specifically archaeology, psychology and movement sciences, can lead to the understanding of the mechanisms that generate and found these regularities. This understanding is necessary to underpin, in return, archaeological interpretations. In a second step, we report on studies we have conducted for more than 20 years on the difficulties involved in the learning of stone knapping, and the consequent univocal links between qualities of lithic pieces, levels of know-how and learning stages (the regularities). A first prerequisite for studying skills involved in tool use was the choice of a theoretical framework, since the questions addressed and the methods used vary accordingly. Nowadays, it is common to contrast two different approaches to action. One approach, referred to as the computational or cognitive approach, postulates that action depends upon an internal preexisting representation. According to this theoretical position, the actor's activity is directly caused by some kind of planning that control the production of behavioural sequences. The second theoretical approach referred to as the ecological/dynamical systems approach stresses the reciprocal role of the organism and the environment acting as a set of constraints from which behaviour emerges. This perspective emphasizes the nature of action by focusing on the goal. With reference to the well-known distinction between technique and method, it assumes that the technique is at the heart of any goal-oriented action, the method guiding the general process towards reaching the goal. In the case of stone knapping, the technique designates the physical modalities according to which the action is performed, whose goal is to fracture the raw material, the stone, by initiating it at a point and whose success depends on the kinetic energy delivered at the time of contact. Subsequently , the method acts as a guide towards the goal, being regarded as the knowledge necessary to go through the different needed sub-goals. This notion corresponds to what is often referred as "planning representation". The "functional approach" to stone knapping permits to differentiate what has to be controlled by the knapper (the weight of the hammer and the velocity vector of the hammer-head at contact time) from the how to produce it, that is the body movement of the knapper. Two sets of extended experiments with actors of different levels of skill were conducted and analysed according to this approach. The first set of experiments took place in Cambay (India), one of the few places in the world where stone knapping is still practiced within the bead industry. Four groups of craftsmen participated in several experiments, including learners. These experiments consisted in the production of beads of different shapes knapped from two raw materials, carnelian and glass. The whole process was videotaped, and the movements of the upper arms were recorded with electromagnetic devices. In addition, each bead was analysed. These experiments avowed two main outcomes. First, almost all craftsmen knew the methods for making the different types of beads, very few errors were detected even in the less skilled craftsmen. In this regard, the method appeared as easy to master, most of the time through imitation of other craftsmen. However, a look at the knapped pieces immediately revealed differences in skill, suggesting that the variability in workmanship had to come from a lack of control of the technique whose mastering takes years to acquire and necessitate thousands of repetitions of the elementary action (performing the technique). The importance of the mastery of the technique in the success of the knapping was also visible in the course of action which was shown to be subordinated to the mastery of the elementary movements. The second finding concerned the important interindividual variability in the movement performed, at the level of joints amplitude and their contribution to the hammer movement, and at the level of the initial arm position which may vary from one actor to another. In addition, these variations across knappers appeared irrespective of experience and performance of the craftsmen. These results led to the second set of experiments that focused exclusively on flaking with knappers of different levels of expertise which confirmed and clarified the results from the bead craftsmen from the previous study. Across situations where mass of the hammer and size of the flake to be removed varied, we showed that only high-level experts were able to adjust the velocity vector to the demand of the task. When knappers were queried about the flake they intended to produce, only high-level experts were able to produce a flake close to what they predicted in terms of dimensions, and to generate a value of kinetic energy correlated with the dimensions of the flake predicted. These results suggest that one reason why the outcome of the flaking process do not always meet the desired goal in terms of the characteristics of the bead manufactured is due to the inability to produce a succession of flakings that meet the requirements of the predicted shape. In brief, our results show that skill acquisition is based on the individual development of the fine tuning of the functional parameters of the percussive task through individual movement strategies. In accord with the ecological/dynamical framework, the learning process proves thus to be the result from the progressive mastering of the dynamic interaction between functional movements, perception and planning. This result explains why correlations exist between technical and morphological characteristics, levels of know-how and stages of learning, and why these correlations correspond to stable regularities over time that can be transferred to the archaeological data with, in return, the obtaining of empirically validated archaeological interpretations. It also explains why there is a universal learning schedule that can be found for any motor activity, and to which the lithic assemblages of all periods bear witness, marked by an exploitation of increasingly large nodules in the debitage. Finally, the result showing idiosyncrasy of body movements dismisses imitation as a mode of learning, as well as the necessity for explicit verbal instruction. As the innovative results of our long-term collaboration between archaeology, psychology and more generally movement sciences (neurosciences and biomechanics) have shown, the take home message of this paper is also a recommendation to develop true interdis-ciplinary collaborations in order to build new founded knowledge through the contribution of each discipline.
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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2022
The sign value of the first potter's wheels used in the southern Levant (second half of the 5th m... more The sign value of the first potter's wheels used in the southern Levant (second half of the 5th mill. BC) is explored through the production modalities of V-shaped bowls, the main category of vessels shaped on the wheel at that time. To this end, a morphometric approach is applied to V-shaped bowls from four sites through numerical methods available in a Pottery 3-D software used to extract shape parameters. The results obtained highlight a high variability in absolute dimensions and a low variability in profiles. This apparent contradiction is discussed in light of the variability of bowls made under three experimental conditions. The baseline data obtained suggests that the roughouts of the archaeological bowls were made by several hands, while the shaping of the bowls on the wheel was done by a single hand. This disjunction in the production process supports the hypothesis that the earliest rotary instruments found in the southern Levant were loaded with symbolic meaning that was then transferred to the vessels when they were shaped on the wheel.
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fRin,rVDBbxCU
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The Arkeotek Journal, http://www.thearkeotekjournal.org/archeo/arkeotek/doc/fr/articles_originaux/6rouxcourty.html, 2022
We first describe the wheel throwing modalities according to the type of wheel. We then examine t... more We first describe the wheel throwing modalities according to the type of wheel. We then examine the deformation of the clay paste depending on these modalities. The goal is a) to understand the differences in the throwing process depending on the type of wheel; b) to highlight diagnostics markers specific of the type of potter’s wheel, i.e. low versus high momentum of inertia; c) to discuss these markers in light of the wheel coiling technique, i.e. coiled rough-outs shaped with RKE.
These markers are meant to help archaeologists in highlighting the different wheel fashioning techniques and the related types of wheel.
http://www.thearkeotekjournal.org/archeo/arkeotek/doc/fr/articles_originaux/6rouxcourty.html
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Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2022
The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of NaCl on the colours and chemical comp... more The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of NaCl on the colours and chemical composition of Carich ceramic bodies. The addition of salt to ceramics is a practice that has been observed in several potter communities where the addition of salt is explicitly intended to whiten ceramics. In order to conduct this research and characterize the physico-chemical properties induced by the presence of salt, raw clay material and pot sherds were collected from the modern production at Hebron. Experimental bricks were made using two clayed sediments: one with a low CaO content (<10%) and one with a higher CaO content (20-25%). Different proportions of NaCl were added (up to 5%) to clay pastes which were fired at different temperatures. Mineralogy (petrography, XRD), chemistry (SEM-EDX) and colour analyses were carried out on raw clay materials, pot sherds and experimental (lab-made) bricks. SEM imagery offered the possibility to monitor the evolution of the mineralogical transformations, the pore system with increasing firing temperature and salt content. Results confirm the role of salt as a catalyst in the transformation reaction of calcium silicates during the firing process and its influence on the colour of the finished object.
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In Adams M. and Roux V. (eds), 2022. Transitions during the Early Bronze Age in the Levant. Ägypten und Altes Testament 109, Verlag Zaphon, Münster, 2022
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In Adams M. and Roux V. (eds), 2022. Transitions during the Early Bronze Age in the Levant. Ägypten und Altes Testament 109, Verlag Zaphon, Münster, pp. 61-80., 2022
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Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2021
While craft apprenticeship can be understood as socially mediated individual learning, the ensuin... more While craft apprenticeship can be understood as socially mediated individual learning, the ensuing prediction of individual and cultural object traits within craft communities has not been investigated. Here we provide an assessment of vessel shape variations occurring through cultural transmission and their visual perception by the craftsmen. To this end, 26 Hebron potters distributed through nine familial transmission units were asked to produce vessels of three different pottery types, then 21 of the participants were invited to visually identify their proper vessels and those of five other potters. We used the Elliptical Fourier method to analyze vessel shape variation among the productions. Our findings demonstrated that the learning process modified the ceramic shape, the cultural morphological traits being combined with new individual traits. Moreover, the individual morphological traits overtook the cultural ones, which is supposed to lead to divergence of vessel shapes within the transmission chain. If certain cultural morphological traits perpetuate through generations, this certainly
does not result from fidelity copying occurring through learning but from stabilizing mechanisms such as consumer demand. Our results showed that potters do perceive the subtle same-type vessel shape variations and thereby could select the individual variant they prefer to produce.
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Cuadernos de Prehistoria y Arqueología de la Universidad de Granada, https://revistaseug.ugr.es/index.php/cpag/issue/view/995/showToc, 2020
In this paper, I first argue that technological analysis of archaeological assemblages in terms o... more In this paper, I first argue that technological analysis of archaeological assemblages in terms of chaînes opératoires is a privileged qualitative approach to reconstruct technological networks, namely networks of socially linked object-makers. This is a first step before explaining dynamic phenomena such as diffusion of techniques or emergence of shared norms at the population level. The second step is to call upon sociological regularities since archaeology alone cannot provide a fine-grained temporal resolution to evaluate how micro-level interactions might have scaled up in changes. In the second part of the paper, I give archaeological examples and illustrate how to use sociological regularities for explaining past dynamics.
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Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2020
This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to ... more This study explores the effects of the copying error process on material culture. The goal is to assess whether the morphometric variability of standardized vessels, generated by copying errors, can reveal both collective and individual signatures. In this perspective, we collected a corpus of 320 present-day standardized water jars, made by 23 Indian expert potters belonging to two endogamous communities distributed between eight villages. The vessels are analyzed through advanced shape analysis of ceramic vessels. The issue is to assess whether morphometric variability is observable at the ‘community,’ the ‘village,’ and the ‘individual’ scales. The results show a clear separation between the two endogamous communities, even when barely visible by the naked eye. Furthermore, village-level trends can be obtained, especially when village productions are associated with distinct learning networks. Identifying individual signatures within standardized production made by multiple potters belonging to the same learning network remains challenging.
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In M. Saqalli & M. Vander Linden (Eds.), Integrating Qualitative and Social Science Factors in Archaeological Modelling. New York: Springer International Publishing., 2019
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Springer, 2019
Pottery is the most ubiquitous find in most historical archaeological excavations and serves as t... more Pottery is the most ubiquitous find in most historical archaeological excavations and serves as the basis for much research in the discipline. But it is not only its frequency that makes it a prime dataset for such research, it is also that pottery embeds many dimensions of the human experience, ranging from the purely technical to the eminently symbolic.
The aim of this book is to provide a cutting-edge theoretical and methodological framework, as well as a practical guide, for archaeologists, students and researchers to study ceramic assemblages. As opposed to the conventional typological approach, which focuses on vessel shape and assumed function with the main goal of establishing a chronological sequence, the proposed framework is based on the technological approach. Such an approach utilizes the concept of chaîne opératoire, which is geared to an anthropological interpretation of archaeological objects.
The author offers a sound theoretical background accompanied by an original research strategy whose presentation is at the heart of this book. This research strategy is presented in successive chapters that are geared to explain not only how to study archaeological assemblages, but also why the proposed methods are essential for achieving ambitious interpretive goals.
In the heated debate on the equation stating that “pots equal people”, which is a rather fuzzy reference to assumed relationships between (mostly) ethnic groups and pottery, technology enables us to propose with conviction the equation “pots equal potters”. In this way, a well-founded history of potters is able to achieve a much better cultural and anthropological understanding of ancient societies.
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In Charlotte Langhor and Ilaria Caloi (eds.), Technology in Crisis. Technological changes in ceramic production during periods of trouble. Presses Universitaires de Louvain, AEGIS series, Louvain, pp.35-44., 2019
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Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2019
This work aims to improve understanding of the conditions favoring adoption of new craft traits. ... more This work aims to improve understanding of the conditions favoring adoption of new craft traits. We investigated the cost of motor skill adaptation in asking seven expert potters to produce familiar vs. unfamiliar shapes and using a familiar vs. unfamiliar wheel. The gestural patterns of the potters (i.e. the succession of their hand positions) were videotaped for quantitative analysis. Results showed that the hand positions varied mostly according to the shape being thrown, whether that shape was familiar or not. Additionally, all potters transferred a major part of their hand positions repertoire from the familiar shapes to the unfamiliar ones. Hence, expert potters produce novel shapes through individual learning which constitutes a low cost of adaptation. In archaeological contexts where ceramic production was distributed among multiple expert potters, new vessel shapes could easily have been adopted because the individual cost was low. On the other hand, we hypothesize that low-skilled potters (e.g. potters specializing in small vessels) would not have achieved such adoption
without opportunities for social learning. As for the unfamiliar wheels, results indicated that their use did not influence the hand positions but involved new postures that may be difficult to adopt, this merits further studies.
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Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2018
The recent literature on “complex contagions” challenges Granovetter’s classic hypothesis on the ... more The recent literature on “complex contagions” challenges Granovetter’s classic hypothesis on the strength of weak ties and argues that, when the actors’ choice requires reinforcement from several sources, it is the structure of strong ties that really matters to sustain rapid and wide diffusion. The paper contributes to this debate by reporting on a small-N study that relies on a unique combination of ethnographic data, social network analysis, and computational models. In particular, we investigate two rural populations of Indian and Kenyan potters who have to decide whether to adopt new, objectively more efficient and economically more attractive, technical/stylistic options. Qualitative field data show that religious sub-communities within the Indian and Kenyan populations exhibit markedly different diffusion rates and speed over the last thirty years. To account for these differences, we first analyze empirically observed kinship networks and advice networks, and, then, we recreate the actual aggregate diffusion curves through a series of empirically calibrated agent-based simulations. Combining the two methods, we show that, while single exposure through heterophilious weak ties were sufficient to initiate the diffusion process, large bridges made of strong ties can in fact lead to faster or slower diffusion depending on the type of signals circulating in the network. We conclude that, even in presence of “complex contagions,” dense local ties cannot be regarded as a sufficient condition for faster diffusion.
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Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2018
This short introduction briefly recalls how sociological theories and formal methods for social n... more This short introduction briefly recalls how sociological theories and formal methods for social networks can help to interpret diffusion processes of ancient cultural traits. It also provides a presentation of the selected papers. These papers focus not on the ways archaeological data can be represented in a relational format, but on the potential of specific sociological network-related models to gain insights into the underlying mechanisms of diffusion processes. The necessity to develop more fine-grained information to reconstruct ancient local social networks is underlined while three aspects of the diffusion process are explored: (a) situations in which cultural practices are not borrowed in spite of contact between groups; (b) situations in which cultural practices are adopted; and (c) situations in which cultural practices in one group are copied by people from another group. All of them take inspiration from sociological studies of diffusion processes through networks, although to different extents.
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Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 2018
In this article, we question how new technological traits can penetrate cohesive social groups an... more In this article, we question how new technological traits can penetrate cohesive social groups and spread. Based on ethnographic narratives and following studies in sociology, the hypothesis is that not only weak ties are important for linking otherwise unconnected groups and introducing new techniques but also that expertise is required. In order to test this hypothesis, we carried out a set of field experiments in northern India where the kiln has been adopted recently. Our goal was to measure the degree of expertise of the potters distributed between early and late adopters of the kiln. Our results are discussed in the light of oral interviews. Our conclusions suggest that expertise is a necessary, albeit not sufficient, condition for weak ties to act as bridges and thereby for new techniques to spread. As an example, they explain how turntables could have been adopted by potters from the northern Levant during the third millennium BC.
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Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2017
In this paper, we address the question of the conditions for persistence of technological boundar... more In this paper, we address the question of the conditions for persistence of technological boundaries. We use field studies to test the predictions generated by a theoretical model in analytical sociology and examine the micro-processes at stake in the non-diffusion of techniques: to which extent techniques contributes to a sharp disagreement between groups and promote polarization? The ultimate goal is to provide archaeologists with an empirically tested model to explain spatial distribution of technological clusters and maintenance of technological boundaries. Field studies examine ethnographic situations in four countries where social groups using different ceramic techniques for making utilitarian vessels live in close geographical proximity. Two situations enable us to examine the conditions under which technological boundaries persist, while two others enable us to analyze, through a boundary-making perspective, how differences in craft techniques contribute to polarization. Our data suggest that in a context where different techniques are used for different types of object there is a cognitive bias which fosters technological polarization. This cognitive bias develops in the course of interactions between actors living in close geographical proximity. Polarization increases when technological standards are used by different social groups, thereby favoring negative influence and persistent technological boundaries.
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2018, In J. Vukovic and I. Miloglav (éds.), Artisans Rule: product Standardization and Craft Specialization in Prehistoric Society, Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 20-39.
In this paper, we propose to assess whether it is possible to highlight
the number of artisans in... more In this paper, we propose to assess whether it is possible to highlight
the number of artisans involved in a standardized production. The case
study is ethnographic with the scope to build up reference data for
interpreting archaeological data. The study took place in Rajasthan (India) where the same type of water jar is produced and distributed at a macroregional scale. We first describe the context of production. Then, the absolute dimensions, as well as the profiles of the potters’ vessels, are analyzed in terms of distance to each other to assess whether metric variability can reflect individual ways of making a same type of jar, and hence the number of potters.
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L’objectif de cet ouvrage est de fournir aux archéologues, étudiants et chercheurs, un cadre théo... more L’objectif de cet ouvrage est de fournir aux archéologues, étudiants et chercheurs, un cadre théorique et méthodologique pour étudier les assemblages céramiques. Ce cadre est fondé sur l’approche technologique qui, à travers le concept de chaîne opératoire, ambitionne une lecture anthropologique des objets archéologiques.
Pour mettre en œuvre cette lecture, l’auteur propose une stratégie de recherche originale dont l’exposé est au cœur de ce manuel. Cette stratégie conditionne l’organisation des différents chapitres dont la succession répond au souci didactique d’expliciter non seulement comment étudier des séries archéologiques, mais aussi pourquoi les modalités d’étude proposées sont incontournables pour aborder, de manière fondée, des champs interprétatifs ambitieux.
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Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2015
This paper addresses the question of the diffusion of morpho-functional traits across social boun... more This paper addresses the question of the diffusion of morpho-functional traits across social boundaries. A present-day situation is examined. It describes the widespread adoption of a granite tempered water jar by two social communities of potters who used to produce distinct ranges of morpho-functional vessels. The analysis of the transmission mechanisms shows that diffusion of such traits occurred both through indirect and direct transmission. Indirect transmission occurred at the inter-group level while direct transmission under the form of technical guidance occurred at the intra-group level. These were triggered by the intention of the artisans to produce a model valued by the consumers and which sells well. This intention took place in a context of collapse of the previous economic system. These results suggest that in a context where ceramic production was previously diversified and economically complementary, the standardization of morpho-functional traits signals that an established «rule» was transgressed and therefore that major socio-economic changes took place.
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Papers/Books by Roux Valentine
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fRin,rVDBbxCU
These markers are meant to help archaeologists in highlighting the different wheel fashioning techniques and the related types of wheel.
http://www.thearkeotekjournal.org/archeo/arkeotek/doc/fr/articles_originaux/6rouxcourty.html
does not result from fidelity copying occurring through learning but from stabilizing mechanisms such as consumer demand. Our results showed that potters do perceive the subtle same-type vessel shape variations and thereby could select the individual variant they prefer to produce.
The aim of this book is to provide a cutting-edge theoretical and methodological framework, as well as a practical guide, for archaeologists, students and researchers to study ceramic assemblages. As opposed to the conventional typological approach, which focuses on vessel shape and assumed function with the main goal of establishing a chronological sequence, the proposed framework is based on the technological approach. Such an approach utilizes the concept of chaîne opératoire, which is geared to an anthropological interpretation of archaeological objects.
The author offers a sound theoretical background accompanied by an original research strategy whose presentation is at the heart of this book. This research strategy is presented in successive chapters that are geared to explain not only how to study archaeological assemblages, but also why the proposed methods are essential for achieving ambitious interpretive goals.
In the heated debate on the equation stating that “pots equal people”, which is a rather fuzzy reference to assumed relationships between (mostly) ethnic groups and pottery, technology enables us to propose with conviction the equation “pots equal potters”. In this way, a well-founded history of potters is able to achieve a much better cultural and anthropological understanding of ancient societies.
without opportunities for social learning. As for the unfamiliar wheels, results indicated that their use did not influence the hand positions but involved new postures that may be difficult to adopt, this merits further studies.
the number of artisans involved in a standardized production. The case
study is ethnographic with the scope to build up reference data for
interpreting archaeological data. The study took place in Rajasthan (India) where the same type of water jar is produced and distributed at a macroregional scale. We first describe the context of production. Then, the absolute dimensions, as well as the profiles of the potters’ vessels, are analyzed in terms of distance to each other to assess whether metric variability can reflect individual ways of making a same type of jar, and hence the number of potters.
Pour mettre en œuvre cette lecture, l’auteur propose une stratégie de recherche originale dont l’exposé est au cœur de ce manuel. Cette stratégie conditionne l’organisation des différents chapitres dont la succession répond au souci didactique d’expliciter non seulement comment étudier des séries archéologiques, mais aussi pourquoi les modalités d’étude proposées sont incontournables pour aborder, de manière fondée, des champs interprétatifs ambitieux.
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1fRin,rVDBbxCU
These markers are meant to help archaeologists in highlighting the different wheel fashioning techniques and the related types of wheel.
http://www.thearkeotekjournal.org/archeo/arkeotek/doc/fr/articles_originaux/6rouxcourty.html
does not result from fidelity copying occurring through learning but from stabilizing mechanisms such as consumer demand. Our results showed that potters do perceive the subtle same-type vessel shape variations and thereby could select the individual variant they prefer to produce.
The aim of this book is to provide a cutting-edge theoretical and methodological framework, as well as a practical guide, for archaeologists, students and researchers to study ceramic assemblages. As opposed to the conventional typological approach, which focuses on vessel shape and assumed function with the main goal of establishing a chronological sequence, the proposed framework is based on the technological approach. Such an approach utilizes the concept of chaîne opératoire, which is geared to an anthropological interpretation of archaeological objects.
The author offers a sound theoretical background accompanied by an original research strategy whose presentation is at the heart of this book. This research strategy is presented in successive chapters that are geared to explain not only how to study archaeological assemblages, but also why the proposed methods are essential for achieving ambitious interpretive goals.
In the heated debate on the equation stating that “pots equal people”, which is a rather fuzzy reference to assumed relationships between (mostly) ethnic groups and pottery, technology enables us to propose with conviction the equation “pots equal potters”. In this way, a well-founded history of potters is able to achieve a much better cultural and anthropological understanding of ancient societies.
without opportunities for social learning. As for the unfamiliar wheels, results indicated that their use did not influence the hand positions but involved new postures that may be difficult to adopt, this merits further studies.
the number of artisans involved in a standardized production. The case
study is ethnographic with the scope to build up reference data for
interpreting archaeological data. The study took place in Rajasthan (India) where the same type of water jar is produced and distributed at a macroregional scale. We first describe the context of production. Then, the absolute dimensions, as well as the profiles of the potters’ vessels, are analyzed in terms of distance to each other to assess whether metric variability can reflect individual ways of making a same type of jar, and hence the number of potters.
Pour mettre en œuvre cette lecture, l’auteur propose une stratégie de recherche originale dont l’exposé est au cœur de ce manuel. Cette stratégie conditionne l’organisation des différents chapitres dont la succession répond au souci didactique d’expliciter non seulement comment étudier des séries archéologiques, mais aussi pourquoi les modalités d’étude proposées sont incontournables pour aborder, de manière fondée, des champs interprétatifs ambitieux.
suited to define the local tradition and differentiate it from other productions in Middle/Upper Egypt and the Levant. The goal is to set the stage for future studies
on its evolution through interactions with neighbouring regions. The results obtained by analysing pottery assemblages from Tell el-Iswid and Tell el-Samara
and by comparing them to samples from Tell el-Fara’in/Buto show the presence of four chaîne opératoires; a local distinctive one of the Delta predominates and proves to be very different from those of Middle/Upper Egypt and the Levant. This local tradition was practiced at the domestic level, remained stable over time and testifies to a Lower Egyptian social group made up of communities linked by strong ties.
http://www.thearkeotekjournal.org/tdm/Arkeotek/fr/articles_originaux/1Roux.xml
witnessing to endogenous and/or exogenous evolutionary phenomena. In this way technological ceramic analysis can lay the foundations of many-faceted interpretations, the study of technical traditions being the first stage for
subsequently analysing the organisation and distribution of ceramic production, the function of the sites, and, lastly, the
ways in which technical and stylistic characteristics evolve.
roughouts and gives us information that we can apply to a study of 3rd millennium archaeological materials from Mesopotamia, Iran and India. Our preliminary conclusions suggest that the 3rd millennium vessels, usually considered as wheel thrown, were initially formed by coiling and then shaped on a wheel.
of the finished products could explain its general diffusion around the Mediterranean from the 3rd to 1st millennium
B.C. In this paper, we propose to re-examine this hypothesis by comparing and explaining four different case studies
dating to the 3rd and 2nd millennium B.C. As we shall see, these examples show that the potter’s wheel was adopted
according to different modalities and rhythms depending on social contexts. The importance of social context in the
diffusion phenomenon is well acknowledged by the anthropology of techniques. It can be explained in terms of universal mechanisms as shown by ethnographic data collected in India. We conclude that the spreading of the potter’s wheel was not content dependent, but very much dependent on social context.
5th millenium and the fi rst half of the 4th millennium BC. The technological study of the ceramic assemblages enables us to re-examine the diffi cult question of continuity and/or discontinuity between the Late Chalcolithic and the earliest Early Bronze Age I cultures in this region. Results show that between the end of the Late Chalcolithic and the beginning of the Early Bronze Age I, there is continuity in the ways of making utilitarian vessels, but discontinuity in the ways of fashioning ceremonial vessels. Moreover, a new functional category of ceramics appears characteristic for the region and whose properties bring them closer to those of ceremonial vessels. Those features argue in favour of both a phylogenetic link between Northern Negev Ghassulian populations and people living in the Shephela (the western piedmont of the Judea-Samaria incline), and a reorganisation of those societies during a transitional period,
including the post-Ghassulian (Late Chalcolithic 2) and the very beginning of the Early Bronze Age I.
Their technological analysis, as well as an analysis of the EB III ceramics, confirms that at Yarmuth, and other contemporary sites, potters did not throw ceramics on the wheel, but coiled roughouts which were then thinned and/or shaped on the tournette. Only a small range of vessels were fashioned on the tournette, suggesting that it was used by a limited number of potters. It is suggested that the potters using the tournette may have been specialists attached to the elite of a major city and occasionally shared out between several settlements within a region.
end, we distinguish between historical scenarios that retrace the history of the wheel itself, and the conditions in which ceramic production took place – conditions that are assumed to play a role in the evolutionary forces. According to this approach, it appears that certain general mechanisms exist that explain why, given
the conditions of its innovation, the technique of the potter’s wheel corresponded to an unsustainable system that was expected to vanish. In the same way, we can explain why this technique disappeared a second time at the end of the 3rd millennium and how it again became predominant during the 2nd millennium BC.
These regularities may apply to all techniques with similar properties (technical-economic advantages, high cost of apprenticeship) and with similar conditions of innovation.
profile. These bowls are present in the upper levels of the site of Abu Hamid. A technological analysis, both of surface features and microfabrics, has enabled us to reconstruct the manufacturing process, to identify centres of production and to propose
hypotheses about their function. The bowls with a «V» profile were shaped on the wheel. The ones from Abu Hamid came from
remote production centres, some in the Negev. Their function seems to have been cultual. Their distribution could reflect the
emergence of a vast politico- cultic community in the Southern Levant at the beginning of the 4th millennium ВС.
operating within a vessel. Validated via compression tests, the so-called Von Mises stress index was employed as a global index of mechanical difficulty. Because this index allows comparisons between vessels of different form, mass, and clay properties, it provides a more powerful tool than existing techno-morphological taxonomies. In a second stage, in order to relate the Von Mises stress index to throwing difficulty, we analysed the geometrical and mechanical characteristics of vessels thrown by eleven expert potters invited to reproduce four different model forms with two different masses of clay. The results demonstrated that reproductions revealed subtle but systematic deviations from the model forms that allowed a decrease in the mechanical difficulty. More difficult forms showed larger degrees of mechanical optimisation. These results, in combination with a new analysis of data from Roux’s (1990) study with potters of different skill levels, indicate that skill resides, at least to a certain extent, in the
capacity to marshal the operative mechanical constraints. In other words, the latter, measured by the Von Mises index, provides a useful signature of a potter’s skills.
flexibility and planning of the artisan. A highly-skilled artisan should be capable of transferring his planning and motor skills to new situations. In addition, we would expect the differences that characterize distinct expertise levels to be amplified in the context of transfer tasks. Modifications were introduced into the knapping activity of the artisan, varying the nature of the raw material to be worked (glass versus stone) and the objective to be attained (bead dimensions and shapes). We worked with 12 artisans distributed equally among two levels of expertise: a high-level, and a low-level. The participants were instructed to produce superior-quality beads. The ensemble of fabrication processes of each bead was recorded with a video camera and an accelerometer attached to the head of the knapper’s hammer in order to analyze the succession of actions realized, as well as the characteristics of the elementary movements and their sequencing.