YOUNG HANDS AT WORK. USING FINGER IMPRESSIONS TO EXPLORE THE DEMOGRAPHIC CONSTITUTION OF EARLY AND MIDDLE BRONZE AGE POTTERY-MAKING COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

Abstract

Fingertip impressions preserved in the surface of clay artefacts can provide demographic details about the people who manufactured and decorated pottery vessels, and by extension allow exploration of the composition of communities of practice engaged in pottery manufacture. This paper describes the development of a method of measurement and analysis of fingertip impressions which were sometimes used as decorative motifs on pot surfaces. The technique can be applied to pottery from across archaeological periods; however, the research presented here focusses on communities of practice among Early and Middle Bronze Age potters of eastern England, and assessing their demographic make-up through analysis of fingertip impressions. The preserved fingertip impressions reveal potting communities comprised children and women, but adult men were seemingly excluded, and suggest a connection between craft activity, age and sex.