Standardization, Labor Investment, Skill, and the Organization of Ceramic Production in Late Prehispanic Highland Peru

Abstract

Specialization encompasses many ways to organize craft production, ranging from small, household-based work units to large workshops. Distinctive types of specialization develop in response to various social, economic, and environmental factors, including the demand for crafts, the social relations of producers, and the support base for artisans. These factors in turn influence manufacturing technology. Thus, different types of specialization can be characterized by a “technological profile,” which reflects relative labor investment, skill, and standardization. An analysis of Prehispanic ceramic technology in the central sierra of Peru demonstrates how these technological profiles can be used to identify the ways ceramic production was organized to provision consumers with utilitarian and luxury pottery. As we demonstrate in our analysis of pottery recovered in the Yanamarca Valley, utilitarian Wanka-style cookwares and storage jars were produced by independent household-based artisans, while imperial Inka-style jars were produced by locally recruited corvee labor working for the state.

Evidencias de estandarización en la manufactura de cuencos de La Aguada Orilla Norte (Argentina)

“…Se caracteriza por una reducción de variedad en la conducta y en el producto; dentro de esto se puede hablar de estandarización en la utilización de materias primas, en los métodos de manufactura (producción masiva, rutinización), en formas, tamaños y colores, entre otros (Rice 1981). Por lo tanto, las evidencias de estandarización se pueden buscar en una serie de atributos tecnológicos que se verán reflejados en la homogeneidad de los materiales, la forma y/o la decoración de las vasijas (Costin y Hagstrum 1995).…”

“…Se asume que los sistemas especializados, al tener menos cantidad de productores, exhibirán menor variabilidad (Rice 1981(Rice , 1987Benco 1988;Longacre et al 1988;Costin y Hagstrum 1995;Sinopoli 1999). …”

“…Se suele considerar que los especialistas producen acabados estandarizados a causa de que rutinizan sus tareas y, por otra parte, una menor cantidad de ceramistas introducen menos conductas idiosincráticas dentro de un conjunto cerámico (Costin y Hagstrum 1995). Es por ello que algunos autores (Costin 1991;Longacre 1999) plantean que la repetición y la experiencia de un artesano especializado deberían conducir a una regularidad y consistencia en la técnica de manufactura que se reflejará en una mayor homogeneidad en el producto final.…”

An archaeological study of the Zimbabwe Culture capital of Khami, southwestern Zimbabwe

“…However, there is need to understand how this industry was organised, specifically whether it was a large-scale workshop-based or a simple household-based subsistence mode of production. Large-scale workshop-based production is identified with large amounts of waste and is ordinarily located outside the domestic sphere (Costin and Hagstrum 1995). On the other hand, subsistence-based domestic production is ordinarily meant to fulfil the needs of the household and facilitate the limited trading of surplus.…”

“…Some scholars have argued that this production industry resulted in the growth of a class of people specialising in various modes of craft production. In particular, scholars have sought to understand the organisation of craft production in the prehistoric era and how it contributed to the development of prehistoric societies (Costin and Hagstrum 1995;Costin 2005;Bandama et al 2016). This chapter presents data related to the manufacturing and craft industry at Khami.…”