Beyond the technological chain: Neolithic potters in social networks

Petr Květina; Louise Gomart; Richard Thér; Klára Neumannová

doi:10.35686/AR.2017.10

Authors

Petr Květina Institute of Archaeology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Letenská 4, CZ-11801 Praha 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8398-8015
Louise Gomart Université Paris 1 – UMR 8215-Trajectoires, MAE – 21 allée de l’Université, F-92023 Nanterre cedex https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0793-2292
Richard Thér Department of Archaeology, Philosophical Faculty, University Hradec Králové, Rokitanského 62, CZ-500 03 Hradec Králové https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6253-5148
Klára Neumannová Institute of Archaeology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Letenská 4, CZ-118 01 Praha 1

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35686/AR.2017.10

Keywords:

technology, pottery, chaînes opératoires, Neolithic

Abstract

Formal and technological attributes of pottery mirror potters’ habitus, actions, and decisions inhibited or stimulated by users of pottery. The variability of these attributes in time and space reflects networks of producers embedded in a complex social network. But how the knowledge of pottery manufacturing processes can be used to gain more accurate understanding of the society behind the “chaînes opératoires” when the basis for the interpretation is archaeological evidence? Can archaeologists reach reliable picture on relations between pottery technology and society? Can the interpretations be built on testable hypotheses? Those are painful issues accompanying all the archaeological attempts to understand variability and changes in pottery technology, the issues that motivate the main theme of the thematic issue of Archeologické rozhledy: the pursuit of archaeologists to integrate pottery technology analysis to the complex interpretation of the Neolithic societies.