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Mortal Pots: On Use Life and Vessel Size in the Formation of Ceramic Assemblages

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael J. Shott
Michael J. Shott*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614–0513
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Abstract

We know a great deal about how prehistoric pots were made and used but surprisingly little about how long they lasted in service. Vessel use life, however, is an important component of ceramic assemblage formation. A growing body of ethnoarchaeological data shows that the directly measurable “primitive property” of vessel size—in its various dimensions—is positively related to use life and that height and weight are the most reliable predictors of use life. Results offer the provisional prospect of estimating use life of archaeological vessels from their size.

Sabemos muchísimo acerca del uso y la manufactura de vasijas prehistóricas pero muy poco acerca de su duratión. Sin embargo, la duratión del uso de las vasijas contribuyó en forma significativa a la formatión de los conjuntos cerámicos prehistóricos. Una cantidad creciente de datos etnoarqueológicos muestra que la "propiedadprimitiva" de tamaño de la vasija en sus dimensiones variadas está vinculada con la duratión del uso y que la altura y el peso son los indicadores más certeros en ese sentido. Estos resultados ofrecen provisionalmente la posibilidad de estimar duratión de uso de vasijas arqueológicas a partir de su tamaño.

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American Antiquity , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , July 1996 , pp. 463 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1996

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