Tarascan Pottery Production in Michoacan, Mexico : An Ethnoarchaeological Perspective

This book examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology.

Pottery is one of humankind’s most important inventions. It is thousands of years old, and it is fair to say that without it the development of civilization as we know it would not have been possible. Food preparation and storage, religion and ritual, wine-making, trade, art, and architecture, among many other human achievements, were all aided by pottery, an artificial material that lent itself to the elaboration of all kinds of objects: vessels, figurines, roof tiles, water pipes, fishnet weights, and tablets inscribed with the earliest forms of writing, to name but a few; a veritable litany of human creativity. This book examines a contemporary pottery tradition in Mesoamerica, but also looks back to the earliest examples of cultural development in this area. By means of ethnographic analogy and ceramic ecology, this study seeks to shed light on a modern indigenous community and on the theory, method and practice of ethnoarchaeology; undoubtedly one of the most important aspects of archaeological research in Mexico today.