The 1992 publication of Pottery Function brought together the
ethnographic study of the Kalinga and developed a method and theory for
how pottery was actually used. Since then, there have been considerable
advances in understanding how pottery was actually used, particularly in
the area of residue analysis, abrasion, and sooting/carbonization. At
the 20th anniversary of the book, it is time to assess what has been
done and learned. One of the concerns of those working in pottery
analysis is that they are unsure how to "do" use-alteration analysis on
their collection. Another common concern is understanding intended
pottery function--the connections between technical choices and
function. This book is designed to answer these questions using case
studies from the author and his colleagues for applying use-alteration
analysis to infer actual pottery function. The focus of Understanding
Pottery Function is on how practicing archaeologists can infer function
from their ceramic collection.