The Use of Ethnoarchaeology for the Archaeological Study of Ceramic Production Author(s): Cathy Lynne Costin Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 2000), pp. 377-403 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20177427 . Accessed: 15/01/2012 10:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact
[email protected]. Springer is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. http://www.jstor.org Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2000 The Use of Ethnoarchaeology for the Archaeological Study of Ceramic Production Cathy Lynne Costin1 Ethnoarchaeological studies have longed served as a critical source of hypothe ses, comparative data, and explanatory frameworks for archaeologists interested in describing and explaining ceramic production. In this paper, I lay out the cen tral questions addressed by archaeologists studying craft production, discuss how ethnoarchaeology has contributed to our understanding of ancient production systems, and suggest avenues of further research that can benefit archaeological investigation of the organization of ceramic production. KEY WORDS: production; specialization; ceramics; potters; crafts. INTRODUCTION The explicitly stated goal of ethnoarchaeology is to provide ethnographic data and explications of those data that are of direct relevance to the interpretation of archaeological materials and tomodel-building in archaeological practice (cf.