V. Gordon Childe was the first scholar to attempt a broad and sustained socioeconomic analysis of the archaeology of the ancient world in terms that, today, could be called explanatory. To most, he was remembered only as a diligent synthesizer whose whole interpretation collapsed when its chronology was demolished. There was little recognition of his insistence that the emergence of craft specialists, and their very variable roles in the relations of production, were crucial to an understanding of social evolution. The interrelationship between sociopolitical complexity and craft production is a critical one, so critical that one might ask, just how complex would any society have become without craft specialization. This volume derives from the papers presented at a symposium at the American Anthropological Association meetings on the centenary of Childe's birth. Contributors to the volume include David W. Anthony, Philip J. Arnold III, Bennet Bronson, Robert Chapman, John E. Clark, Cathy L. Costin, Pam J. Crabtree, Philip L. Kohl, D. Blair Gibson, Antonio Gilman, Vincent C. Piggott, Jeremy A. Sabloff, Gil J. Stein, Ruth Tringham, Anne P. Underhill, Bernard Wailes, Peter S. Wells, Joyce C. White, Rita P. Wright, and Richard L. Zettler. Symposium Series Volume VI University Museum Monograph, 93

The contributions to this volume are introduced via a critical review of terms and concepts used in craft production studies today. Recent detailed contextual and technological analyses of artifacts from all aspects of complex societies have revealed interesting patterns that are difficult to conceptualize using a purely economic framework. Furthermore, interest in practice theory, and sociocultural theory in general, has shifted some foci of archaeological investigation toward the social aspects of production and specialization.

Crafting and craft objects intersect with all cultural domains: economic, social, political, and rituall. Craft goods are social objects that assume an importance beyond household maintenance and reproduction. They signify and legitimize group membership and social roles, and become reserves of wealth, storing intrinsically valuable materials and the labor invested in their manufacture. Specialized craft producers are actors involved in the creation and maintenance of social networks, wealth, and social legitimacy. Artisans and consumers must accept, create or negotiate the social legitimacy of production and the conditions of production and distribution, usually defined in terms of social identity. The nature of that process defines the organization of production and the social relations of production systems and explanations for their form and dynamic are destined to be unidimensional and unidirectional, lacking in key elements of social process and social behavior. This volume addresses the questions of artisan identify, social identify, and what these inquiries contribute to understandings about social organization and economic organization.

This book, a comparative study of specialised production in prehistoric societies, examines approaches to specialization and exchange.

Craft practice has a rich history and remains vibrant, sustaining communities while negotiating cultures within local or international contexts. More than two centuries of industrialization have not extinguished handmade goods; rather, the broader force of industrialization has redefined and continues to define the context of creation, deployment and use of craft objects. With object study at the core, this book brings together a collection of essays that address the past and present of craft production, its use and meaning within a range of community settings from the Huron Wendat of colonial Quebec to the Girls? Friendly Society of twentieth-century England. The making of handcrafted objects has and continues to flourish despite the powerful juggernaut of global industrialization, whether inspired by a calculated refutation of industrial sameness, an essential means to sustain a cultural community under threat, or a rejection of the imposed definitions by a dominant culture. The broader effects of urbanizing, imperial and globalizing projects shape the multiple contexts of interaction and resistance that can define craft ventures through place and time. By attending to the political histories of craft objects and their makers, over the last few centuries, these essays reveal the creative persistence of various hand mediums and the material debates they represented.

This dissertation addresses several aspects of the study of craft production and social and economic organization during the Iron Age (c. 1200 B.C.E. - 400 B.C.E.) and Early Historic Periods (c. 400 B.C.E. - 400 C.E.) in South India. In particular, I examine the techniques and technologies and the organization of production of semi-precious stone ornaments from Kodumanal, Pattanam, and Kadebakele. In addition, I analyzed a large sample of the ceramic assemblage from Kodumanal, and established a typology and a ceramic chronology based on forms and wares. Kodumanal was a site of intensive production of beads, finger rings, and ear spool ornaments, primarily in high quality, clear crystalline quartz. I analyzed the beads, ornaments, and production waste excavated from Kodumanal, using methods derived from the chaîne opératoire approach. By classifying the products of the different stages in ornament production, I tracked the nature and intensity of ornament production over time in all the excavated trenches. The results of this approach showed that production of quartz beads and ornaments was carried out to varying degrees in different areas of the habitation at Kodumanal, and the scale of production varied significantly over time. There is evidence of segmentation in the stages of production of semi-precious stone ornament production, which may indicate control over production (Kenoyer 1989, 1991, 1995, 2000). Though it has long been clear that both Black and Red Ware and bleached carnelian beads were important parts of megalithic ritual and daily life, my analysis shows strong conservatism in the kinds of ornaments and pottery interred in megalithic monuments from the Iron Age to Early Historic period. This is in marked contrast with the changing assemblages of ornaments and ceramics used in daily life and discarded in habitation sites. The significant conclusions of this research show several broad trends over the course of the Iron Age and Early Historic periods. The economic strategies of craft producers were fluctuating over time, and trade became increasingly regular and systematic. Despite the increasing availability of new forms, styles and materials of ornament, there was strong conservatism in the kinds of material culture interred in megalithic practices.