Ecology and Ceramic Production in an Andean Community

This ethnoarchaeological study looks at pottery production in a contemporary Peruvian Andean community.

Dean Arnold's ethnoarchaeological study looks at pottery production in a contemporary Peruvian Andean community. Its main purpose is to propose a review of accepted ideas about pre-industrial pottery in the light of what has been discovered about contemporary practices and the associated beliefs and interpretations.Following the theoretical perspective of his earlier book, Ceramic Theory and Cultural Process (1985), Dean Arnold's ethnoarchaeological study explores the relationships of ceramic production to society and its environment in the Peruvian Andes. The book traces these contemporary linkages through the production, decoration, and use of pottery and relates them to the analysis and interpretation of ancient ceramic production. Utilizing an ecological approach within a single community, Arnold expands the scope of previous ceramic theory by focusing on the population as the unit of analysis in production and decoration.