Decorated ceramics in Chontales, Nicaragua, have long stood within a research framework that centered their existence. However, up until the 1990s the biased approach to decorated ceramics...Show moreDecorated ceramics in Chontales, Nicaragua, have long stood within a research framework that centered their existence. However, up until the 1990s the biased approach to decorated ceramics emphasized macro-regional interaction without establishing a framework for local dynamics in Chontales. Without a local historical understanding, the ceramics solely became a part of a trend in narratives of cultural belonging and ethnic movement in Nicaraguan archaeology at large. As more recent approaches center on local human-environment interaction in the valley of Juigalpa, I have taken a similar approach in this thesis to reframe white slipped polychrome ceramics as a proxy for the regional exchange of ideas and finished goods. Here, I confirm the existence of (inter-)regional trade in finished goods in the form of white slipped polychrome ceramic vessels. Through a macroscopical and petrographic compositional approach, I analyze, and group 274 white slipped polychrome ceramics from the sites of Sabana Grande, Roberto Amador I and La Pachona. All three sites are in the valley of Juigalpa and have been dated to the period between 900 - 125o CE. Further interpretation through the criterion of abundance, communities and constellations of practice, and comparison to previous studies, allowed me to establish the presence of a local community of potters that produced white slipped polychrome ceramics in the valley of Juigalpa. This community is likely located within the Sabana Grande site cluster, and produced ceramics that make up about half of the white slipped polychrome ceramics recorded in the region. The ceramics are stylistically and compositionally most like the Pacific Nicaraguan Papagayo style. Non-local communities produced Vallejo, Pataky and Rivas-Ometepe complex polychrome styles that were traded into the valley of Juigalpa, inspiring the local potters and tying them into polychrome producing constellations.Show less
This thesis describes a study surrounding the applicability of politeness theory and the presence of communities of practice in the online game environment of World of Warcraft. By applying theory...Show moreThis thesis describes a study surrounding the applicability of politeness theory and the presence of communities of practice in the online game environment of World of Warcraft. By applying theory and methodologies of sociolinguistics in new media, more specifically computer game studies, this is a completely original and multidisciplinary study. Its main hypotheses revolve around communities of practice and politeness theory. First: Multiple communities of practice potentially exist in the social in-game online environment of World of Warcraft. These communities are likely based on different in-game activities players engage in, and what players have achieved in the game environment. Second: Tied to communities of practice, politeness theory is likely applicable in online game environments, despite social distance, power of speakers over one another, and the absolute ranking of impositions being based on game-specific concepts rather than socio-demographic factors. The research conducted involves: participant observation of several in-game environments and communities; the logging of face-threatening acts committed and face-saving strategies employed by players in different game environments; and the analysis of collected data in order to test hypotheses.Show less
Research master thesis | Archaeology (research) (MA/MSc)
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During the third millennium BC, similar funerary rituals and objects appear throughout Europe. This event is known as the Beaker phenomenon and has sparked a long-standing controversy in...Show moreDuring the third millennium BC, similar funerary rituals and objects appear throughout Europe. This event is known as the Beaker phenomenon and has sparked a long-standing controversy in prehistoric archaeology. This controversy consists of two key questions: what mechanisms resulted in the spread of funerary rituals and objects; and what are the causal factors behind this mechanism? This thesis aims to verify explanatory theories for the first question. These theories fall into three categories based on the mechanisms they propose: migrationist theories, diffusionist theories, and network theories. Regardless of their classifications, all theories share two aspects: 1) they are based on ceramic typology; 2) they equate ceramic types to social entities. Both aspects are controversial in the contemporary archaeological discourse. Nevertheless, there is a continued need to engage with ceramics, because it is the most abundant find category at sites from this period. Moreover, the above-mentioned assumption remains widely-used, despite contradictory evidence. Therefore, this thesis formulates and performs an alternative verification procedure for the above-mentioned explanatory theories. The study area for the application of this procedure is the western coastal area of the Netherlands. The basis for the above-mentioned verification procedure is an ethnoarchaeological study of the relations between ceramic technology and identity that departs from the concepts chaîne opératoire and community of practice. This study enables the formulation of hypotheses for the technological impact of classes of explanatory models on ceramic technology. Subsequently, an integrated technological study of ceramic vessels from three sites in the study area (Hazerswoude-Rijndijk N11, Voorschoten-De Donk, and Zandwerven) maps the technological developments during the Beaker transition. A comparison of the observed and hypothesised developments in ceramic technology points out that the beaker phenomenon was not a uniform process in the study area. Whereas a diffusionist scenario matches the patterns observed at Voorschoten-De Donk and Zandwerven, the technological developments at Hazerswoude-Rijndijk N11 are akin to a network model. Lastly, the results also point at the importance of communication networks and interaction for the conceptualisation of the Middle and Late Neolithic at the western coastal area of the Netherlands.Show less
