Full Description
The contributions to this volume are introduced via a critical review of terms and concepts used in craft production studies today. Recent detailed contextual and technological analyses of artifacts from all aspects of complex societies have revealed interesting patterns that are difficult to conceptualize using a purely economic framework. Furthermore, interest in practice theory, and sociocultural theory in general, has shifted some foci of archaeological investigation toward the social aspects of production and specialization.
Contents
1. "Specialized" Production in Archaeological ContextsSpecialization, the Social Value of Products, and the Practice of Production (Rowan K. Flad and Zachary X. Hruby). 2. In Craft Specialization's Penumbra: Things, Persons, Action, Value, and Surplus (John E. Clark). 3. Associations and Ideologies in the Locations of Urban Craft Production at Harappa, Pakistan (Indus Civilization) (Heather M.-L. Miller). 4. Context and Meaning in Late Neolithic Lithic Production in China: The Longshan Period in Southeastern Shandong Province (Gwen P. Bennett). 5. Ritualized Chipped-Stone Production at Piedras Negras, Guatemala (Zachary X. Hruby). 6. The Theatrics of Technology: Consuming Obsidian in the Early Cycladic Burial Arena (Tristan Carter). 7. Rethinking the Context of Production through an Archaeological Study of Ancient Salt Production in the Sichuan Basin, China (Rowan K. Flad). 8. Knowledge and Belief in Artistic Production by Classic Maya Elites (Takeshi Inomata). 9. Thinking about Production: Phenomenological Classification and Lexical Semantics (Cathy Lynne Costin). 10. Production as Social Process (Julia A. Hendon). 11. Specialization, Context of Production, and Alienation in the Production Process: Comments and Afterthoughts (Yung-ti Li). 12. On "Rethinking" Craft Specialization: Responses by the Authors (Zachary X. Hruby, Rowan K. Flad, John E. Clark, Takeshi Inomata, and Heather M.-L. Miller). List of Contributors.
