The chaîne opératoire of ceramics found at El Carril, Dominican Republic. El Carril is a site in the DR where I participated in an excavation in 2018. I was able to study 13 ceramic sherds – which...Show moreThe chaîne opératoire of ceramics found at El Carril, Dominican Republic. El Carril is a site in the DR where I participated in an excavation in 2018. I was able to study 13 ceramic sherds – which were large enough to permit detailed study - found on site. This thesis looks at the chaîne opératoire of those ceramics. This involves trying to establish the step by step processes involved in the manufacture of those ceramics and assessing if similar methods were used by the majority of artisans. This, in conjunction with similar studies at other sites may cast light on the development of ceramic technology and the associated social organisation. El Carril yielded many ceramic artefacts mostly of Meillacoid style. This thesis describes the Meillacoid and other styles and the geographic extent of the spread of the Meillacoid style. It describes the El Carril site and in particular the presence of large numbers of anthropogenic mounds in which most of the artefacts were found. The thesis presents some theoretical perspectives already advanced on the study of ceramic chaîne opératoire and, in light of this, it presents the methodology employed and the detailed analysis of the ceramic sherds I studied. This is followed by a description of the majority chaîne opératoire used, as observed from my research, as well as some variants also observed. The thesis acknowledges some factors confounding attempts to draw definitive conclusions concerning the anthropological interpretation of my results but makes a variety of suggestions for further research that should be conducted to expand on the findings in this work and throw additional light on the subject.Show less
The ERC-Synergy project Nexus1492: New World Encounters In A Globalising World is, amongst others, investigating past activities in the indigenous Caribbean. One of these activities was the...Show moreThe ERC-Synergy project Nexus1492: New World Encounters In A Globalising World is, amongst others, investigating past activities in the indigenous Caribbean. One of these activities was the production of pottery. This thesis aims to investigate the chaîne opératoire of pre-colonial pottery through studying the 'act' of incising and punctating ceramic vessels during the Late Ceramic Age. This research was executed through the macroscopic analysis and comparison of 35 Meillacoid and Chicoid pottery sherd samples with 44 experimentally manufactured clay-slabs which were incised and punctated with 16 different experimental tools of various material types. The archaeological samples which were studied in this research are all originating from the pre-Columbian archaeological site of El Flaco, Dominican Republic. An inland site situated along the 'Ruta de Colon' and at the southern foothills of the Cordillera Septentrional at a distance of approximately 20km from the ocean. The main focus of this research is the potter's toolkit re-creation, comparing archaeological sample sherds with experimental clay-slabs with the goal of figuring out which tools were probably part of the potter's toolkit for the sake of incising and punctating ceramic vessels and which were not. Other variables like the dryness of clay vessels at the time of incising and punctating and the different possible gestures or motions are also discussed in this study. Preliminary conclusions include, but are not limited to a probably extensive toolkit with many tool-types as possible utensils for producing specific incisions and punctations, with tools from the category plant matter (read small wooden sticks and twigs) as the most important part of this toolkit. Additionally, it seems plausible that incisions and punctations were more likely to be applied to pre-colonial pottery on a relatively plastic clay, as opposed to a drier vessel.Show less
