African Pottery Roulettes Past and Present: Techniques, Identification, and Distribution

African Pottery Roulettes Past and Present considers ethnographic, museological and archaeological approaches to pottery-decorating tools called roulettes, that is to say, short lengths of fibre or wood that are rolled over the surface of a vessel for decoration.

This book sets out, for the first time, a solid typology for the classification of African pottery decorated with such tools, and forges a consensus on common methodology and standards. It gives an overview of history of research into roulette decoration in Africa and elsewhere Jomon Japan, Neolithic Europe, Siberia, and New York among others; outlines the contemporary distribution of roulette usage in sub-Saharan African today, a 'success story' from Senegal to Tanzania; and proposes methodologies for the identification of selected roulette decoration types in the archaeological record.

By achieving standardisation in pottery analysis, this book will help researchers make meaningful comparisons between different sites of West Africa, and thus guide further research on the West African past. As roulette decoration has been such a global phenomenon in the past, the book will also be of interest to all researchers with an interest in ceramics from different parts of the world.

Table of Contents

African Pottery Poulettes Past and Present: Techniques, Identification and Distribution.

Maps
Introduction

Roulettes as markers of individual and social style
Identifying and classifying African roulettes: previous studies
Fibre roulettes beyond Africa

Section 1: Modern roulettes in sub-Saharan Africa
Introduction: classification and nomenclature of African roulettes
Principals of classification
Materials
Manipulations
Material – manipulation systems
Objective and references
Choise of ethnographic referents
Popular classifications
Scientific classifications
Simple roulettes
Simple cord roulettes
Twisted cord roulettes
Braided cord roulettes
Knotted cord roulettes
Simple strip roulettes
Folded strip roulettes
Knitted strip roulettes
Roulettes on a core
Rouletttes on a continuous core
Cord wrapped on a continuous core
Braided cords on a continuous core
Braided strips on a continuous core
Roulettes on an independent core
Roulettes on a single independent core
Roulettes on multiple independent core
Roulettes consisting of modified materials
Carved wooded or bone culinders
Inflorescences and fruits
Specification and distribution
Unmodified objects
Shells
Manufactured objects

Section 2: A method of identification for rolled impressed decorations
Introduction
General principles and practical aspects
General principles: identification of the tools and the actions
Practical aspects
The identification process
Analysing ethnographic tools and their impressions: some examples
Discussion and conclusion

Section 3: Introductory note: How archaeologists work
Twisted cord roulette
Appearance of the archaeological material
Description of the tool
Variants on twisted cord roulettes
Knotted twisted cord roulettes
Looped twisted cord roulette
Terminology and distribution
Sources of confusion
Selected archaeological instances
Cord-wrapped roulette
Appearance of the archaeological material
Description of the tool
Unmodified central core
Split stick core
Multiple stick core
Terminology and distribution
Selected archaeological instances
Sources of confusion
Braided cord roulette (Simple and composite)
Appearance of the archaeological material
Description of the tool
Three- or four-cord braid: simple and composite
Double four-cord braid: simple and composite
Twelve-cord braid: composite
Terminology and distribution
Selected archaeological material
Sources of confusion
Folded strip roulette
Appearance of the archaeological material
Description of the tool
Terminology and distribution
Selected archaeological instances
Sources of confusion
Knotted strip roulette
Appearance of the archaeological material
Description of the tool
Terminology and distribution
Selected archaeological instances
Sources of confusion
Braided strip roulette
Appearance of the archaeological material
Description of the tool
Terminology and distribution
Selected archaeological instances
Sources of confusion

The volume has been produced by archaeologists specifically for archaeologists, and the illustrations of the potters in action (on the cover), and more essentially of their rouletting tools and the resulting impressed effects on the vessesl before firing, offer excavators in eastern as well as western Africa a source of reference and system of classification as they sort their decorated sherds.' (John Sutton Journal of African Archaeology, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2011)