Archaeological Approaches to Technology

by Miller,Heather Margaret-Louise

• ISBN13: 9781598744743
• ISBN10: 1598744747
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2009-09-15
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book is designed for upper-division undergraduate and graduate level archaeology students taking courses in ancient technologies, archaeological craft production, material culture, the history of technology, archaeometry, and field methods. This text can also serve as a general introduction and a reference for archaeologists, material culture specialists in socio-cultural disciplines, and engineers/scientists interested in the backgrounds and histories of their disciplines. The study of ancient technologies, that is, the ways in which objects and materials were made and used can reveal insights into economic, social, political, and ritual realms of the past. This book summarizes the current state of ancient technology studies by emphasizing methodologies, some major technologies, and the questions and issues that drive archaeologists in their consideration of these technologies. It shows the ways that technology studies can be used by archaeologists working anywhere, on any type of society and it embraces an orientation toward the practical, not the philosophical. It compares the range of pre-industrial technologies, from stone tool production, fiber crafts, wood and bone working, fired clay crafts, metal production, and glass manufacture. It includes socially contextualized case studies, as well as general descriptions of technological processes. It discusses essential terminology (technology, material culture, chaine operatoire, etc.), primarily from the perspective of how these terms are used by archaeologists.

Author Biography

Heather Margaret-Louise Miller is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at University of Toronto.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	p. ix
Dedication	p. xiii
Preface and Acknowledgements	p. xv
Introduction: Archaeological Approaches to Technology	p. 1
Terminology	p. 3
Archaeology and Technology Studies	p. 7
Overview of Volume	p. 9
Methodology: Archaeological Approaches to the Study of Technology	p. 13
Archaeological Field Techniques: Discovery/Recovery	p. 16
Survey	p. 17
Excavation	p. 19
The Examination of Archaeological Remains	p. 21
Simple Visual Examination and Measurement	p. 22
Complex Examination of Physical Structure and Composition	p. 25
Ordering and Analyzing Data	p. 27
Reconstructing Production Processes; Chaîne Opératoire	p. 29
Analogy and Sociocultural Interpretation	p. 30
Experimental Archaeology	p. 34
Ethnography, Ethnoarchaeology, and Historical Accounts	p. 36
Extractive-Reductive Crafts	p. 41
Classification of Crafts	p. 43
Stone/Lithics	p. 46
Collection and Preliminary Processing	p. 47
Shaping and Finishing Methods	p. 54
Knapping	p. 54
Cutting (Sawing, Drilling, Groove-and-Snapping)	p. 57
Pulverizing (Pecking)	p. 58
Abrading (Grinding, Smoothing, Polishing, Drilling)	p. 59
Production Stages	p. 59
Organization of Production; Consumption	p. 61
Fibers: Cordage, Basketry, Textiles	p. 65
Collection and Preliminary Processing of Fibers	p. 68
Production of Strands and Cordage	p. 72
Fabric Production	p. 75
Ornamentation and Joining	p. 81
Organization of Production and Scheduling Demands	p. 85
Wood, Bone, and Other Sculpted Organics (Antler, Horn, Ivory, Shell)	p. 89
Collection and Preliminary Processing	p. 91
Shaping and Finishing Methods	p. 94
Organization of Production; Use and Reuse of Hard Organic Objects	p. 98
Transformative Crafts	p. 101
Fired Clay	p. 103
Collection and Preliminary Processing; Formation of the Clay Body	p. 109
Shaping Methods	p. 113
Drying and Surface Treatments	p. 118
Firing	p. 121
Post-Firing Surface Treatments and Second Firings	p. 128
Vitreous Silicates: Glazes, Faiences and Glass	p. 128
Collection and Preliminary Processing	p. 130
Creating the Vitreous Silicate Mixtures; Fritting; Melting of Glass (Glass Making)	p. 135
Shaping of Faience and Glass Objects	p. 138
Application of Glazes to Faience and Other Materials	p. 141
Firing of Faience and Glazed Objects; Annealing of Glass	p. 143
Post-Firing Surface Treatments	p. 144
Metals: Copper and Iron	p. 144
Collection, Including Mining	p. 147
Processing of Ores and Native Copper; Fuel and Fluxes	p. 150
Smelting	p. 152
Refining and Alloying	p. 156
Shaping and Finishing Methods: Casting and Fabrication (Including Forging)	p. 159
Casting	p. 159
Fabrication	p. 162
Thematic Studies in Technology	p. 167
Technological Systems; Reed Boat Production and Use	p. 168
Reconstructing Reed Boats and Exchange Networks in the Arabian Sea	p. 169
Reconstructing Reed and Plank Boats and Exchange Networks in Coastal Southern California	p. 173
Innovation and the Organization of Labor	p. 180
The Case of the Grain Harvesting Machine	p. 181
Divisions of Labor, Women's Roles, Specialization, and Mass Production of Pottery	p. 185
Technological Style	p. 191
Style and Technological Style	p. 191
Technological Traditions: Metal and Bone Working in North America	p. 195
Thematic Studies in Technology (Continued)	p. 203
Value, Status, and Social Relations: The Role of New Artificial Materials in the Indus Valley Tradition	p. 203
Uses of Artificial Materials	p. 204
Status Differentiation and the Development of Vitreous Materials	p. 206
Determining Relative Value	p. 212
Social Relations and the Relative Value of Indus Talc-Faience Materials	p. 217
Artificial Materials and Cultural Value Systems	p. 225
Technologies of Religious Ritual in the American Southwest	p. 226
Religious Mural Construction, Use, and Discard	p. 228
Archaeological Identification of Religious Ritual	p. 232
The Analysis of Multiple Technologies	p. 237
Cross-Craft Perspectives	p. 237
Technological Style and Cross-Craft Interactions	p. 239
Bibliography	p. 247
Index	p. 283
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