Stylistic Variation in Prehistoric Ceramics: Design Analysis in the American Southwest (New Studies in Archaeology) - Softcover

Plog, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521070333 ISBN 13: 9780521070331

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Using data drawn primarily from the American Southwest, Stephen Plog shows that there are basic problems with the methods archaeologists traditionally use to classify and analyse prehistoric pottery. Archaeologists have studied the painted designs and other stylistic (that is, non-functional) characteristics on different types of prehistoric artifacts in order to infer information about prehistoric social organization and cultural change. Such studies usually argue that the degree of similarity between the designs found on ceramic vessels at different prehistoric sites were occupied or from the amount of interaction between the people who occupied them. In Stylistic Variation in Prehistoric Ceramics, the author proposes that many factors, rather than just two, cause design or stylistic variation on artifacts. He demonstrates flaws in the logic and method of previous studies and suggests that the ways in which designs have been classified and understood are often inappropriate. Employing archaeological information from the Chevelon Canyon area of east-central Arizona, he constructs his own proposal for a new analytic framework. Professor Plog's study provides a major contribution to archaeological method and theory and should be of interest to a broad range of archaeologists.

About this title

Book Description

Plog argues that there are many more factors that cause design or stylistic variations on prehistoric artifacts than have been previously acknowledged. Using data primarily from the American Southwest, he shows why the methods of design analysis that have been used are often inappropriate, and presents a new framework of explanation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0521070333
• ISBN 13: 9780521070331
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 172