| Abstract: |
This paper considers a major logistical problem which often confronts archaeologists in Southeast Asia: how to cope with huge amounts of excavated pottery. It focuses on the important Neolithic pottery industries established at Khok Phanom Di between c. 2000 - 1500 B.C. Khok Phanom Di was a pottery production centre throughout its prehistoric occupation. When faced with the task of processing over ten tonnes of pottery (representing about three million potsherds), however, a realistic processing strategy is essential. An outline of the researcher's archaeological objectives, their analytical framework, and the resultant processing scheme adopted will be sketched in the paper. The research objectives are: 1. identifying evidence for local and/or exotic wares, with particular consideration given to their impact on local cultural systems
2. Determining the scale, intensity and socioeconomic importance of local production
3. Chronology: provision of intra- and inter-site dating with special reference to possible ceramic relationships with other sites. These may be reflected in stylistic and/or technological variables. The excavations revealed four ceramic periods: an initial occupation deposit underlying two cemetery zones, and, following a hiatus of undefined duration, an upper zone dominated by a pottery workshop. A processing scheme will be outlined, which involved sorting the sample into categories, and then sifting these categories by eliminating duplicated sherds from consideration, in order to establish discrete diagnostic groupings.
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