Pottery Manufacturing Processes: Reconstitution and Interpretation

These seventeen papers, from a colloquium held at the XIVth UISPP Congress at the University of Liege in 2001, combine archaeological, ethnographic and technical approaches to present the current state of research in the study of pottery technology. The colloquium's aim was to highlight key topics, such as clay preparation, shaping techniques, decoration and firing and post-firing treatments, whilst addressing problems in methodologies. Ethnographic contributions present case studies from the Amazon, Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Gambi and Senegal; two papers present methods of technical identification; nine papers reconstruct and interpret pottery manufacturing processes in archaeological contexts. These examine assemblages from Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Mauritania and the Levant. Nine papers in English, the rest in French; all have English and French abstracts.