Potters and Communities of Practice

Download or read book Potters and Communities of Practice written by Linda S. Cordell and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2015-11-02 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The peoples of the American Southwest during the 13th through the 17th centuries witnessed dramatic changes in settlement size, exchange relationships, ideology, social organization, and migrations that included those of the first European settlers. Concomitant with these world-shaking events, communities of potters began producing new kinds of wares—particularly polychrome and glaze-paint decorated pottery—that entailed new technologies and new materials. The contributors to this volume present results of their collaborative research into the production and distribution of these new wares, including cutting-edge chemical and petrographic analyses. They use the insights gained to reflect on the changing nature of communities of potters as they participated in the dynamic social conditions of their world.