Ceramics play a particularly important role in archaeology because of their durability and ubiquity. Because the plasticity of clay allows for the production of highly variable objects that are sensitive to differences in practice, the final products of pottery manufacture embody culturally specific symbolism, habitual predispositions, and technological sophistication. One can consequently explore a wide range of subjects by examining different aspects of archaeological ceramics. In this chapter, I focus on those attributes of the Zhongba ceramic assemblage that relate to both the organization of ceramic production itself and the salt-production system that utilized these ceramic tools. The ceramics discussed in this section include both complete vessels and diagnostic pottery sherds collected from the DT0202 excavation unit at Zhongba.

analyzing ceramics to study production

The analysis presented here incorporates Costin’s model for assessing various parameters of production organization through an investigation of vessel size and design, standardization and variability, and skill (Costin 1986, 1991; Costin and Hagstrum 1995; see Chapter 2). Before briefly introducing these approaches to ceramics, it is important to note the most significant difference between the studies of Peruvian ceramics, on which this model was developed, and the Zhongba case: the Peruvian ceramics were the end products of the production process under investigation, whereas the Zhongba ceramics under analysis were tools for manufacture of salt (see Tosi 1984, 25).