We study the incorporation and transformation of cultural and material elemants by looking at late precolonial and early colonial ceramics. We analyze what kind of ceramic objects were exchanged and how they were integrated into colonial societies. We study both the stylistic appearance of the pots as well as how they were made by looking at the manufacturing traces. To do this we use archaeological methods and approaches combined with information from historical sources and contemporary potters who still often preserve Indigenous knowledge.
Left: Marlieke Ernst studying traces on pottery (photo: Marlieke Ernst).
Right: Traces on a pot seen through a lens (photo: Marlieke Ernst).
Left: Afro-Caribbean potter Ms. Sandra making a traditional cooking pot with clay coils in Morne Sion, Saint Lucia (photo: Katarina Jacobson).
Right: Katarina Jacobson from Guadeloupe studying archaeological pottery in the laboratory of Loma de Guayacanes, northern Dominican Republic (photo: Menno Hoogland).
Alejandrína Estrella Pérez from the Dominican Republic and Finn van der Leden from Leiden
University, The Netherlands, drawing potsherds found at the archaeological site of El Flaco, northern Dominican Republic. Pottery styles can indicate if the pottery is made locally or has been imported from elsewhere (photo: NEXUS1492).
A Journey through cultural ceramics (NEXUS1492).