“I found this to be an exceptionally clearly formulated and presented study and was highly impressed with the author’s rigor in carrying it out. As he points out, this is hard and inglorious work that needs to be done if we are to understand the archaeological record.”
—J. Theodore Peña, professor of Roman archaeology, University of California, Berkeley, and director, Pompeii Artifact Life History Project, Pompeii, Italy
“Michael J. Shott is an eminent authority on cultural formation processes. This data-rich ethnoarchaeological study of Michoacán domestic ceramics sheds new light on quantitative transformations from systemic context to archaeological context. Shott’s empirically grounded and well-qualified generalizations provide archaeologists who study ceramic assemblages worldwide with essential analytical tools. This spectacular book, Shott’s labor of love, is truly a magnum opus.”
—Michael Brian Schiffer, author of Archaeology’s Footprints in the Modern World