51024
Editor
Vandiver, Pamela B.; Goodway, Martha; Mass, Jennifer L.
Title Of Article Chaper
Recovering and Re-Discovering Craft
Title Of Journal Book
Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology VI: Symposium held November 26-30, 2001, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Volume
712
Pages
535-543
Collation
9 p. : ills.
Reference Bibliography
Includes bibliographic references
Publisher
Materials Research Society
Publisher City
Warrendale
ISBN
1-55899-648-6
Language Of Text
English
Literature Type
Monograph
Literature Level
Analytic
Abstract
Many studies have shown that craft involves know-how, practice and problem solving that represents activities that can be recovered by study of various artifact assemblages and contexts with archaeological sites. The types of conclusions differ with nature of the research question, sample size and its variability, methods of study and organization of collecting in the field, as well as the results of areal study: ethnographic information, resource survey and landscape reconstruction. Questions generated through analysis of materials, processes and properties often generate questions that can only be answered by replicative experiments of all aspects of a chaine operatoire, only part of it or only those critical aspects about which questions remain. The integration of the laboratory/workshop results with the archaeological evidence, both objects and context, can lead to a re-discovery of a craft. The conjectured details of materials composition and structure, sequence of processing, properties, performance or use essentially reverse engineer the typical way that modern materials research is conducted. This paper aims at developing a widening dialogue about craft know-how among materials scientists working in museums and artist-craftsmen. To learn about our history and the human condition is not just to analyze and preserve the objects and artifacts, but also to investigate and understand the knowledge and skills used to produce and use them – essentially this is the preservation of intangible cultural heritage and culture history.
Keywords
craft; artifact; archaeology
pub_id
51024