Search

Studying craft specialisation in archaeology involves investigating and reconstructing how production was organised. This article focuses on prehistoric communities and asks who performed specific tasks. Ceramic specialisation is traditionally approached through models of production organisation that are largely based on ethnoarchaeological case studies and are usually difficult to link with the archaeological evidence. Based on these models, the economic framework plays a key role in associating the emergence of specialisation with the intensification of the demand for goods and identifying specialists by the amount of time required for production. This approach neglects the social value of products and the social context sustaining skills development. This article discusses surface treatments as a means to understand the skills of potters and the social values of specific ceramic products in Copper Age communities from central Italy. The methodology combines the analysis of technological traces and experimental archaeology used to infer craftspeople’s expertise and reveals differences in the chaine operatoire and skills involved in the production of domestic and funerary vessels. The results support a hypothesis of household specialisation that developed in these communities based upon differences in skills, knowledge and dedication among potters and the recurrent association of skilled productions with ritual contexts.

La cerámica encontrada en las tumbas de El Caño comparte el mismo estilo que la producida en las llanuras aluviales de la región en los siglos comprendidos entre el 700 y 1000 d.C. Los datos de los coeficientes de variabilidad de las diferentes formas analizadas evidencian distintos valores de estandarización en la producción de la vajilla polícroma y la no polícroma. Los contextos funerarios excavados recientemente en el Caño indican además que la producción de cerámica polícroma era controlada por una élite. Este control sobre la producción de ciertos bienes sugiere que estos fueron clave en el desarrollo de las jefaturas en el istmo de Panamá y marca la fase de esplendor de la cultura coclesana. The pottery found in the burials of El Cano is uniform in style to these made in the coclesanos valleys between 700 and 1000 AD. The coefficient of variability of the different pottery forms, evidence diverse standardizations values for polychrome and non-polychrome ceramics. Moreover, data of funerary contexts from the Cano recently excavated, suggest that elite has controlled ceramic production. This control over the production of certain goods reveals that these were important in the support or proper operational of the chiefdoms in Panama and mark the phase of splendour of this culture.

The papers assembled in this volume were given at the University of Namur on 25 March 2011, at the first session of the Société Préhistorique Française to be held outside France. The Société Préhistorique Française is currently raising its international profile and the organisation of the session in Belgium is a contribution to this development. Craft specialisation in later prehistory is a complex subject. The diverse meanings of the concept of specialization, together with the different social and economic implications linked to its appearance, indeed form a research issue that requires much discussion. The presence of craft specialisation has particularly been used to assess levels of social complexity, with reference to the historical question of the emergence of complex societies, social hierarchy and cities. During this round-table, we deliberately set aside the issue of relationships between levels of specialisation and social organization. We have mainly focussed on the archaeological methods and the objective criteria that can be used for differentiating technical activities, their organization and their possible differences of status during later prehistory. With regard to the abundant literature relating to a wide range of archaeological or ethnographical assemblages and contexts, this foreword considers the theoretical framework for approaching technical specialisation. In fact there is hardly any general typology for the different forms of specialisation. This may be explained by the large variety of craft activities considered for the periods in question and by the diverging quantitative and/ or qualitative criteria taken into account for their characterization. The round-table’s contribution to this debate is thus the analysis of assemblages from later prehistoric contexts with possible evidence for specialisation, involving various technical systems. The identification of possible regularities through the analysis of specific cases can provide keys to understanding the nature and diversity of production. The aim is to generate some central ideas that can be usefully applied to this time period, without setting out to construct a general typology of technical specialisations., Les articles regroupés dans ce numéro sont issus de la première séance de la Société préhistorique française à l’étranger qui s’est tenue à l’université de Namur (Belgique) le 25 mars 2011. Le développement des relations scientifiques internationales de la Société préhistorique française participe d’une dynamique réelle qui mérite une meilleure visibilité ; l’organisation de cette séance en dehors des frontières de la France y participe. Le thème de la spécialisation des activités artisanales dans la Préhistoire récente est complexe. C’est précisément la diversité des significations du concept de la spécialisation d’une part et les différentes implications socioéconomiques données à son apparition d’autre part, qui constituent une problématique dont la discussion s’impose. L’existence d’un artisanat spécialisé a été utilisée en particulier pour évaluer le degré de complexification sociale, renvoyant à la question historique de l’émergence des sociétés complexes, de l’apparition de la hiérarchisation sociale et des processus d’urbanisation. Lors de cette table ronde, nous avons délibérément écarté la question des liens qu’entretiennent les degrés de spécialisation et l’organisation des sociétés. Nous nous sommes essentiellement concentrés sur l’examen des méthodes archéologiques et des critères objectifs de différenciation des productions techniques, de leur organisation et de leurs différences éventuelles de statut pour la Préhistoire récente. Dans cet avant-propos, au regard d’une littérature abondante portant sur des corpus et des contextes archéologiques ou ethnographiques diversifiés, nous nous sommes interrogés sur le cadre théorique des approches de la spécialisation technique. En réalité, il n’existe presque pas de véritable typologie générale des formes de spécialisation. Ce fait est lié à la grande diversité des pratiques artisanales considérées pour les périodes qui nous concernent et à la disparité des critères quantitatifs et/ ou quantitatifs pris en compte pour les caractériser. La contribution à ces débats de cette table ronde consiste donc à examiner certains corpus qui peuvent se prêter à documenter la spécialisation de cultures de la Préhistoire récente, au travers de systèmes techniques diversifiés. C’est par l’analyse de ces cas spécifiques que l’on cherchera à dégager d’éventuelles régularités, et à proposer ainsi des clés de lecture de qualification et de différenciation des productions qui fassent émerger quelques idées directrices utiles et applicables pour notre période, sans avoir pour ambition de construire une typologie générale des spécialisations techniques., Burnez-Lanotte Laurence, Allard Pierre. Avant-propos. In: Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française, tome 109, n°2, 2012. pp. 211-219.

Hasta los años 90 del siglo pasado, la historiografía arqueológica del Suroeste de la Península Ibérica estuvo dominada por la tradición Histórico-Cultural, basada en el concepto normativo de Cultura, en explicaciones apoyadas en fósiles-directores, en derivaciones difusionistas, en inventarios descriptivos de objetos descontextualizados y en un discurso pautado por un normativismo de corte decimonónico. En este sentido, la cerámica, de lejos el registro arqueológico con mayor presencia, fue presentada en la literatura arqueográfíca como el fósil director más verosímil y como el principal referente arqueológico para la caracterización de horizontes culturales y cronológicos que desde el VI al II Milenio A.N.E. definían arqueográficamente lo que se denominaba Neolítico, Calcolítico y Edad del Bronce. Así pues, se desarrolló una línea de investigación alternativa mediante una propuesta teórica y metodológica que permitiese evaluar el ciclo económico de la cerámica, desde el aprovisionamiento hasta su desecho, en tres formaciones sociales coetáneas del III Milenio A.N.E.: Cabezo Juré (Alosno, Huelva), La Junta (Puebla de Guzmán, Huelva) y Valencina de la Concepción (Valencina de la Concepción, Sevilla). En términos generales, los resultados de la investigación han puesto de manifiesto la existencia de dos modelos autónomos de organización económica y social de la actividad productiva alfarera en el Suroeste de la Península Ibérica durante el III Milenio A.N.E. En Cabezo Juré y La Junta, los datos apuntan a la existencia de un modelo alfarero realizado en el ámbito local, con una producción autosuficiente destinada a cubrir las necesidades básicas, y donde la dedicación al trabajo nunca sobrepasó la esfera del tiempo parcial. La producción alfarera en estos asentamientos debió ser una actividad al alcance de todos los miembros de la comunidad y el acceso a las materias primas no debió estar restringido, formando parte de unos recursos del entorno que serían apropiados de forma colectiva. Ello supone que esta actividad nunca alcanzó niveles de especialización e intensificación y que jamás se organizó bajo una división técnica y social del trabajo. No obstante, por el contrario, en Valencina de la Concepción, el estudio de las diferentes etapas del proceso productivo ha permitido plantear la posibilidad de la existencia de un modelo económico y social alternativo, organizado alrededor de unidades supradomésticas que evidencian ya un cierto grado de especialización económica. El análisis de la cerámica de Valencina de la Concepción muestra una lenta y paulatina tendencia hacia una mayor estandarización y especialización de sus procesos de producción, consecuencia de una mayor inversión de tiempo, trabajo y recursos en las tareas productivas, lo que provocó la homogeneización de los procedimientos técnicos, principalmente en los recipientes de mayor demanda. Asimismo, el surgimiento de la cerámica campaniforme en el repertorio ceramológico del poblado no presenta una ruptura completa en relación a la cerámica común, aunque muestra innovaciones en la tecnología (decoraciones con relleno de pasta blanca) y en el repertorio formal de los recipientes. Su valor social hace pensar que su producción ha obedecido a mecanismos de control político e ideológico, ya que surge asociada a contextos de consolidación y exhibición del poder de las elites que vivieron en Valencina de la Concepción. La existencia de varias tendencias productivas está asociada a la consolidación de un modelo de progresiva complejidad social y económica que adquiere su máxima expresión a partir de mediados del III Milenios A.N.E., caracterizado por el incremento de la producción y consecuente especialización de varios sectores artesanales., In order to evaluate the relationship between two complementary economic activities, pottery and metallurgy, we developed a theoretical and methodological approach for assessing the entire economic cycle of ceramic, from their procurement to consumption/use/discard, in three archaeological sites: Cabezo Juré (Alosno, Huelva), La Junta (Puebla de Guzmán, Huelva) and Valencina de la Concepción (Seville). . Methodologically, three complementary techniques from materials science were used: compositional analysis by ICP-MS and ICP-OES, petrographic analysis of ceramic thin-sections and mineralogical analysis by X-ray Diffraction (XRD). In specific cases, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with system of X-ray Energy Dispersive Microanalysis (EDS-SEM), electron microprobe analyser (EPMA) and porosity analysis were performed. The results of the investigation have revealed the existence of two autonomous models of economic and social organization of the pottery production in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula during the third millennium B.C.E. Specific data provided by Cabezo Juré and La Junta shows that the whole technological process was done at the local level, with a self-sufficient and expeditious production to meet the basic needs and where labour force never surpassed part-time intensity. The information available seems to indicate that pottery production would be an activity open to all community members and the access to raw materials would not be restricted, as part of the resources of the territory would be appropriated collectively. This means that this activity never reached levels of specialization and intensification and wasn’t organized under a technical and social division of labour. This economic and social model of pottery production seems to have been widespread in the Iberian Peninsula from the beginning of the production economy. In Valencina de la Concepción the analysis of the different operational sequences of pottery production have allowed to raise the possibility of the existence of an alternative economic and social model. Apparently, during the first half of the third millennium B.C.E. a technological tradition was consolidated in Valencina de la Concepción that involved the incorporation of new technical innovations. In response to increased consumption demand, the production units had adopted uniform production processes that are reflected in the preferential selection of raw materials, standardization profiles, standardized manufacturing process, surface treatment and firing. The analysis of pottery shows a slow and gradual trend towards greater standardization and specialization of production processes, due to greater investment of time, labour and resources in productive tasks, which caused homogenization of technical recipes, mainly in vessels of greater demand. The emergence of bell beaker pottery in ceramic assemblage doesn’t show a complete breakdown in relation to the utilitarian pottery since for its production the same areas of supply are used. However, the minor presence of bell beaker around Valencina de la Concepción leads us to consider that there was not such an intensive and full-time production but rather should be thought of as an extraordinary production, oriented exclusively for use in ceremonial moments. Its social value suggests that production has resulted from political and ideological mechanisms of control sponsored and managed by elites.

Red hot deposits were uncovered on the western edge of a Middle Neolithic settlement. With the extension of the excavation, a wide space of about 10m2, confined between two clay walls, very much affected by high temperatures, was uncovered. A number of vases almost totally complete after their preservation and a clay model of a kiln were unearthed. Additionally, clay remains of constructions were uncovered. The whole context suggests an area where pottery firing activities took place. The possibility that these kilns could have worked as a specialized craft workshop for other settlements in the area is discussed.