lesson 5- material culture

Question 1

According to Gondek why is pottery useful for scholars?

Answer 1

1. pottery is ultimately undestructable-though it may break into smaller pieces, these would have to be ground to dust in order to be removed from archaeological sources
2. In addition to being an excellent tool for dating, pottery enables researchers to locate ancient sites, reconstruct the nature of a site, and point to evidence of trade between groups of people
3. individual pots and their painted decoration can be studied in detail to answer questions about religion, daily life and society