Dr. Tristram R. Kidder
Center for Archaeology
7041 Freret St.
862-3048
kidder@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
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Time: TBA
Place: Room 109, Anthropology Building
Description: The focus of this course will be the practical and theoretical aspects of the analysis of archaeological ceramics. A combination of classroom lectures and hands-on lab research will be used to introduce students to the fundamentals of ceramic production and technology, description, typology, classification, and analysis. In addition, students will be exposed to methods of thin sectioning and microscopic analysis, as well as drawing, photographing, and reproducing ceramic artifacts. The goal is to prepare students to undertake their own ceramic analyses, as well as to be able to evaluate the work of other archaeologists. To accomplish these goals we will conduct an actual ceramic analysis using materials from the Bowie site (16LF17), Lafourche Parish, Louisiana.
Requirements: The emphasis of the course will be on hands-on analytical experience. Most classes will combine some formal lecture and a good deal of actual handling of ceramic artifacts from the Bowie site or other sites from the region. Students will also make and fire their own pottery as one means of understanding and appreciating the nature of ceramic production. During the semester, students will work alone or in pairs to complete a series of lab assignments. Each student is also required to complete a weekly assignment consisting of drawing profiles or plan views of ten ceramic artifacts.
Readings: The texts for the course are Sinopoli’s Approaches to Archaeological Ceramics (Plenum 1991), and Orton et al., Pottery in Archaeology. Four other texts are available on reserve at the library. They are P. Rice, Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook, O. Rye, Pottery Technology, A. Shepard, Ceramics for the Archaeologist., and R. L. Lyman et al. Americanist Culture History. The first three books are detailed but introductory in scope and cover a wide range of subjects and subject matter. The last book contains many of the articles that are assigned as readings. Selected readings will be assigned on a weekly basis and can be found in the Departmental Reserve (in folders next to the secretary’s desk). I have also provided a Glossary of Ceramic Terms. This glossary lists terms and definitions that you will encounter in your reading. It is a hypertext document so you can move among and between terms readily.
Grades: Grades for this class will be based on five lab assignments worth 12 % each (total of 60%), and a term paper or project worth 40% of the final grade. Students may do either a term paper or a project. The project consists of some kind of analysis (typology, thin sectioning, vessel shape analysis, etc.) of an existing ceramic collection or collections. The term paper would be a more traditional library research project. The term paper topic will be selected in consultation with the instructor and can be on any topic relevant to the course. There is no mandatory term paper length, although most will run between 15-25 pp. (double spaced, 1" margins, not including bibliography). A mandatory first draft of the project results or term paper is due on TBA, and the final draft is to handed in on TBA. Failure to meet these deadlines will result in the paper being marked down a half letter grade for each day it is late (this process is cumulative).
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syllabusSchedule of Classes:
Introduction Orton et al. Chs. 1-2 Ceramic Materials and
Properties Orton et al. Ch. 10; Sinopoli pp.
9-32; Rice Ch. 1 Pottery Manufacturing I Sinopoli pp. 33-42; Shepard Ch. II;
Rye Ch. 3 Pottery Manufacturing II Beaudry '91; Rice Ch. 5; Rye Chs.
5-6 Pottery manufacturing III Orton et al. Chs. 5, 11; Beynon et al.
'86; Hegmon '95 Classification I Orton et al. Ch. 6; Sinopoli Ch. 3;
Rouse 1960 * Classification II Ford '54a & b *; Spaulding '53
& '54 * Classification III Hill and Evans '72; Wheat et al. '58
* Chronology Building I Orton et al. Ch. 14; Sinopoli pp.
75-81 Chronology Building II Ford 1951 *; Rowe '61 *; Deetz &
Dethlefsen '65 * ; Rouse '67 Ethnoarchaeology and
Analogy Rice Ch. 9; Arnold '91 Functional Analysis and Use Orton et al. Chs. 12, 17; Rice Ch. 7;
Braun 1983 Ceramic Production and
Distribution Orton et al. Ch. 15; Sinopoli pp.
83-117; Rice Ch. 14; Rice '91 Ceramics and Society I Rice Ch. 8; Morgan 1991 Ceramics and Society II Sinopoli Ch. 6-8; Steponaitis et al.
'96 FINAL DRAFT of Term Paper
DUE
Assigned Readings (Readings marked with an asterisk (*) are also available in the book Americanist Culture History, edited by Lyman, O’Brien, and Dunnell [on Reserve at Howard-Tilton Library])
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