Students in the Ceramic Analysis for Archaeology class spend most Friday mornings discussing matters of archaeological theory and method while poring over shards of ancient pottery. But on Feb. 26, the class headed to The Clay School in Ithaca to make some pottery of their own.
, assistant professor in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, said she wanted the students to work with clay to get a feel for the process of making pottery.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important for the students to realize that there were once human actors behind the worn and broken pots that archaeologists uncover,鈥 Khatchadourian said. 鈥淧otters made choices.鈥
鈥淔or the past few weeks in class we have been studying how pottery is made, from the initial gathering of the raw material all the way to having a finished pot or ceramic object,鈥 said Melissa Bravo 鈥16. 鈥淭his field trip helped to put into perspective the challenges of making usable ceramic objects. Even with the modern conveniences that we had in the [Clay School], creating a functional object was quite difficult.鈥
The class is normally held in the in McGraw Hall, where students have the opportunity to handle ancient pottery while learning how archaeologists approach ceramic technology to understand ancient economies, social relations and identities.
鈥淪ince ceramics are some of the most abundant material remains found at sites of almost any time period and place, it really helps to know how to look at and interpret these artifacts,鈥 Bravo said.
Khatchadourian said the purpose of the trip to the Clay School was for students to get a sense of the difficulty of the craft, and the tension between the agency of the potter and the powerful influence the clay itself exerts in the form-generating process.
Ned Fischer, a graduate student in the class, said, 鈥淧ottery is a full body art form that requires constant contact with the material, which is something you cannot experience in a classroom.鈥
鈥淚 was able to increase my understanding of why potters make the choices that they do,鈥 said Zoe Zaneteas 鈥18.
Anna Carmichael '18 is a communications assistant for the 麻豆视频 and 麻豆视频.
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