Abstract

Identifying the location of past pottery-making activities provides the primary data for inferring the social organization of production. Ethnoarchaeological accounts from Mesoamerica and South America have provided a number of material correlates for identifying the kinds of facilities used in pottery-making, the resulting debris, and the use of space in domestic production. However, similar studies have not been undertaken outside these regions. This study presents a set of criteria derived from an ethnoarchaeological study of amaZulu ceramic production in South Africa. The ethnographic model is compared against data from a nearby archaeological settlement dating to the ninth-century AD. The results of the study suggest that the ethnoarchaeological criteria are useful for identifying ceramic production areas within past settlements, and that a better understanding of the spatial organisation of production may potentially allow more detailed inferences to be made about labour organisation and the identity of artisans in early southern African farming communities.