Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 38 (4) 2010

Annotation:  Three Scenarios of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic Transition. Scenario 1: The Middle to Upper Paleo Kalavan-2 (North of Lake Sevan, Armenia): A New Late Middle Paleolithic Site in the Lesser Caucasus The Role of Science-Based Methods in the Study of Ancient Pottery as a Source of Historical Informa Physical and Chemical Properties of Ceramics from the Chronologically Transitional (Late Bronze – E The Utinka Burial Peat-Bog Sites in the Eastern Urals The Origin and Development of the Wucheng Culture (in the Context of Intercultural Contacts between Circle Dance Festival “Gorka”: Traditions and Innovations The Open Letters of Sergei Borisov: From the History of Photography in the Altai The Origins of the Andronovo (Fedorovka) Population of Southwestern Siberia, Based on a Middle Bron Models of Man’s Biosocial Adaptation in an Industrial Society   

The Role of Science-Based Methods in the Study of Ancient Pottery as a Source of Historical Information

Yu.B. Tsetlin and E.V. Volkova.

The article discusses the effi cacy of modern science-based methods within the framework of various research approaches and the opportunities they provide in the study of ancient ceramics as a source of historical evidence. It is the authors’ opinion that a combined historical and cultural approach is the most promising that has been proposed to date. Such methods can only be successfully applied given close, creative collaboration between experts in the fi elds of both ancient ceramics and the natural sciences.

Keywords: Ancient pottery making, ceramics, science-based methods, approaches and methods for studying ceramics, experiment, ethnography of pottery.