Technological and Manufacturing Attributes of New Brunswick Aboriginal Pottery


My research is concerned with Aboriginal ceramics from the Maritime Peninsula on the east coast of Canada, and with understanding the reasons that people in this region made pottery. I am interested in the ways that so-called "stylistic" attributes of pottery, such as decoration, in fact have technological functions and contribute to a well-honed tool tradition that is highly specialized and consciously designed for accomplishing a specific purpose. I attempt to show this through experimental laboratory work, geoarchaeology, and vessel replications, especially by determining firing cycles and other technological and manufacturing attributes of pottery.