Grand River Chapter - Using Micro Computed Tomography to explore Ceramic Rim Formation Practices on a Late Woodlands Borderland

Speaker: Amy St. John, PhD Candidate, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario

Topic: Using Micro Computed Tomography to explore Ceramic Rim Formation Practices on a Late Woodlands Borderland

Micro CT analysis offers a new perspective on pottery manufacture, augmenting traditional studies that focus on decorative and morphological aspects of ceramics. High resolution, three dimensional, micro CT images reveal different ways of forming vessels, identifying characteristic tendencies in motor habits and learned behaviours that are grounded in the specific contexts of learning and in the actions of ceramic manufacture. To explore this potential, I have scanned sherds from more than 60 vessels from a cluster of archaeological sites near Arkona, Ontario, with a focus on the rim portions of vessels. Mirco CT scans can help us better understand these contemporaneous and sequentially occupied sites (ca. 1100-1250 A.D.) in a borderlands area, between what have been known as the archaeological Western Basin and Ontario Iroquoian traditions.