Practice question · Multiple choice
Pottery from one century is highly variable in form and from the next is nearly uniform. What does the standardisation most likely record?
Hints
- Ask what makes a hundred pots come out nearly identical.
- Variability tracks the number of hands. What happened to that number?
Show the answer
A. A change in how production was organised
Why
Many independent makers produce a wide spread and a few workshops produce a narrow one, so metrical variability is a measure of production organisation. The pots were not trying to report an economic reorganisation, which is exactly why they are good evidence of one.
Practise Material Culture as a Source
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More questions on Material Culture as a Source
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- Why does a high rate of repair in an assemblage tell an archaeologist about scarcity?