Dissertation: Midden Formation and Post-Depostional Alteration of Ceramics in Kalinga, Philipines

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Under the direction of Dr. William Longacre MS Margaret Beck will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will examine ceramic use, discard and post-discard alteration of pottery manufactured by Kalinga speaking peoples of northern Luzon, Philippines. The groups in this region live in villages of 50-90 households and support themselves largely irrigated rice farming. Two such villages continue to produce ceramic vessels for cooking, drinking water and food storage despite the increasing availability and popularity of metal and plastic containers. Thus they offer the opportunity to examine the use of an artifact class which has been employed by humans for over 10,000 years and which constitutes an important category of material excavated from many archaeological sites. MS Beck's work builds on a series of projects conducted in the region by both Dr. Longacre and a series of prior graduate students. The primary goal of her research is to see how well-known patterns of use alteration on modern Kalinga ceramics are altered or disguised during burial within a Kalinga archaeological site. Because ceramics are altered during use, archaeologists can study such characteristics as abrasion on the inside and outside of vessels or charring in an attempt to reconstruct function. However both cultural and natural processes can affect vessels and vessel fragments, potentially altering or obscuring the evidence of use. Post-use alterations must be correctly identified before use alteration can be evaluated. While MS Beck will examine vessel use, her work will focus on the factors which affect ceramics after their discard. She will study the process of trash midden accumulation and excavate discarded ceramics of varying age. Four basic classes of ceramic modification will be studied: 1. "Acid leaching" or iron leaching; 2. removal of exterior and interior carbon; 3. abrasion; and 4. fragmentation and dispersion. Natural alterations of vessel fragments will be reproduced experimentally to better understand and predict the conditions under which they occur. Because ceramics were widely used prehistorically and preserve well in many archaeological contexts, they constitute a significant class of artifact recovered during archaeological excavation. Some projects yield literally tons of sherds and therefore researchers wish to extract the maximum possible amount of information from them. MS Beck has recognized that post discard processes can significantly complicate and bias this process and her research will provide insights and guidelines of widespread archaeological use. The project will also assist in training a promising young scientist.