On February 23, about thirty scholars from many research institutions and universities attended a workshop at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). They met to discuss the research design for the interdisciplinary project ”Archaeology of Ceramics – Craft Practice, Technological Choices, Social Networks, and Cultural Interactions.” This is a project that has been designed as part of the “Double First Class University Plan” through the Center for Social Sciences.

Most participants are young and very active in the archaeological study of ceramics. Among the topics discussed were recent findings of many archaeological investigations, ceramic ethnoarchaeology, replication experiments, technological styles, craft learning and organization, pottery production and consumption, porcelain trade, culture contact, and urbanization.

The study of ancient ceramics has been at the heart of modern archaeology. More than any other category of objects, ceramics offers archaeologists their most abundant source of information on the human past. Their importance to archaeology does not rest solely in the fact that ceramics were abundant, but that they were utilized in numerous behavioral contexts.

The nature of their fabrication facilitated a great diversity in details of shape, texture, decorations and technological practice that allowed an almost endless variety of human expression. The study of archaeological ceramics has been an integral part of Chinese archaeology since its inception and will no doubt continue to be so.

Commensurate with its significance to archaeology have been earnest efforts to refine existing approaches to the study of ancient ceramics and to develop new methodologies and interpretations for answering fundamental questions about past human societies. Workshop participants had many lively discussions covering numerous issues concerning the research design of the project.

As part of the project, a research network is being planned to explore innovative approaches into the understanding of past human behaviors and ideas. It will particularly use contemporary social theories on craft learning and apprenticeship, human-thing entanglement, technological choices, communities of practice, cooperation, collective action, social memory, cross-craft interactions, and culture contact.