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Dating and Explaining Soapstone Vessels: A Comment on Truncer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Kenneth E. Sassaman
Kenneth E. Sassaman*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Box 117305, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611sassaman@anthro.ufl.edu
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Abstract

A recent paper by Truncer (2004) perpetuates the recalcitrant misconception that soapstone vessel technology uniformly predates the inception of pottery across eastern North America. Whereas soapstone vessels indeed preceded the local adoption of pottery in limited areas, the bulk of stratigraphic and independent radiometric data supports the conclusion that soapstone vessels either accompanied or postdated the inception of pottery in many parts of the Eastern Woodlands. I reiterate here my criticism of benchmark studies that have been uncritically accepted to support the greater antiquity of soapstone. Given the coincidence of pottery and soapstone in many areas of the Eastern Woodlands, any explanation for the use of soapstone vessels must consider the relative costs and benefits of alternative container technology. Moreover, evidence for use of soapstone vessels in mortuary contexts, caches, and in locations far from geological sources of soapstone suggests that their significance resided not simply in the domestic economy of nut processing, as suggested by Truncer, but in the political economy of group formation and alliance.

Résumé

Résumé

Un reciente escrito de Tuncer (2004) se continua perpetuando el recalcitrante error de argumentar que la techonología de vasijas de piedra jabonosa es anterior a la incepción de la ceramica en el este de Norte America. Mientras que las vasijas de piedra jabonosa preciden la adopción local de cerámica en areas limitadas, el grueso de la estratigrafia y de los datos radiométrícos apoyan la conclusión que las vasijas de piedra jabonosas acompañan o son posteriores a la introducción de la cerámica en muchas partes del este de las Woodlands. Yo reitero aquí mi criticismo de estudios que son aceptados sin ninguna crítica que dan soporte a la antígüedad de la piedra jabonosa. Dada las coincidencias de la cerámica y la piedra jabonosa en muchas areas del este de las Woodlands, cualquier explicación sobre el uso de la piedra jabonosa debe cosiderar el relativo costo y beneficio de tecnologías de almacenamiento alternativos. Ademas, la evidencia para el uso de las vasijas de piedra jabonosa en contextos mortuarios, caches y en otras localizaciones lejanas de las fuentes de piedra jabonosa sugiere que su significado no reside en la economía domestica del procesamiento, como sugiere Truncer, pero en la economía política de la formación de grupos y alianzas.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , January 2006 , pp. 141 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2006

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