Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, Rethinking Craft Specialization in Complex Societies Archaeological Analyses of the Social Meaning of Production

by Hruby, Zachary X.; Flad, Rowan K.

• ISBN13: 9781444334029
• ISBN10: 1444334026
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-03-15
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• More Book Details

Summary

The contributions to this volume are introduced via a critical review of terms and concepts used in craft production studies today. Recent detailed contextual and technological analyses of artifacts from all aspects of complex societies have revealed interesting patterns that are difficult to conceptualize using a purely economic framework. Furthermore, interest in practice theory, and sociocultural theory in general, has shifted some foci of archaeological investigation toward the social aspects of production and specialization. New data, methods, and theories require a rethinking of what is meant by specialized production, and this chapter represents an introduction to this endeavor.

Author Biography

Zachary X. Hruby, Ph.D., is lecturer and research affiliate at the University of California Riverside.  He received his undergraduate degree from Humboldt State University, his M.A. from Brigham Young University, and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Riverside.  He specializes in lithic technology, ancient Maya writing, Mesoamerican iconography, social and economic theory, and desert archaeology of southern California.

Rowan K. Flad is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Harvard University.  He received his Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Program in Archaeology at UCLA in 2004.  His research concerns the emergence of complex societies in East Asia and his fieldwork focuses on the Three Gorges and Sichuan Basin of southwestern China.

Table of Contents

"Specialized" Production in Archaeological Contexts: Rethinking Specialization, the Social Value of Products, and the Practice of Production

In Craft Specialization's Penumbra: Things, Persons, Action, Value, and Surplus

Associations and Ideologies in the Locations of Urban Craft Production at Harappa, Pakistan (Indus Civilization)

Context and Meaning in Late Neolithic Lithic Production in China: The Longshan Period in Southeastern Shandong Province

Ritualized Chipped-Stone Production at Piedras Negras, Guatemala

The Theatrics of Technology: Consuming Obsidian in the Early Cycladic Burial Arena

Rethinking the Context of Production through an Archaeological Study of Ancient Salt Production in the Sichuan Basin, China

Knowledge and Belief in Artistic Production by Classic Maya Elites

Thinking about Production: Phenomenological Classification and Lexical Semantics

Production as Social Process

Specialization, Context of Production, and Alienation in the Production Process: Comments and Afterthoughts

On "Rethinking" Craft Specialization: Responses by the Authors

List of Contributors

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.