Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Weak Ties and Expertise: Crossing Technological Boundaries

  • Published:
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this article, we question how new technological traits can penetrate cohesive social groups and spread. Based on ethnographic narratives and following studies in sociology, the hypothesis is that not only weak ties are important for linking otherwise unconnected groups and introducing new techniques but also that expertise is required. In order to test this hypothesis, we carried out a set of field experiments in northern India where the kiln has been adopted recently. Our goal was to measure the degree of expertise of the potters distributed between early and late adopters of the kiln. Our results are discussed in the light of oral interviews. Our conclusions suggest that expertise is a necessary, albeit not sufficient, condition for weak ties to act as bridges and thereby for new techniques to spread. As an example, they explain how turntables could have been adopted by potters from the northern Levant during the third millennium BC.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Two kilograms flat base pot costed 200 shillings against 100 shillings for the old one in 2014.

  2. The numbers of the shapes refer to a taxonomy elaborated by Roux (1989). This taxonomy proposes a classification of shapes depending on their throwing difficulty.

  3. A roughout is a hollow volume which does not present the final geometrical characteristics of the pot. A roughout is usually obtained by thinning operations. A preform is a pot with its final geometrical characteristics but where the surface has not been (or will not be) subjected to finishing techniques. A preform is obtained by shaping a roughout.

References

  • Arnold, P. J. I. (1991). Domestic ceramic production and spatial organization: A Mexican case study in ethnoarchaeology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, N. A. (1967). The coordination and regulation of movements. London: Pergamon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bril, B., Roux, V., & Dietrich, G. (2005). Stone knapping: Khambhat (India), a unique opportunity? In V. Roux & B. Bril (Eds.), Stone knapping: The necessary conditions for a uniquely hominin behaviour (pp. 53–72). Cambridge: Mc Donald Institute for Archaeological Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bril, B., Rein, R., Nonaka, T., Wenban-Smith, F., & Dietrich, G. (2010). The role of expertise in tool use: Skill differences in functional action adaptations to task constraints. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36(4), 825–839.

    Google Scholar 

  • Centola, D. (2015). The social origins of networks and diffusion. American Journal of Sociology, 120(5), 1295–1338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collar, A., Coward, F., Brughmans, T., & Mills, B. J. (2015). Networks in archaeology: Phenomena, abstraction, representation. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 22(1), 1–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foster, G. M. (1959). The potter’s wheel: An analysis of idea and artifact in invention. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 15(2), 99–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foster, G. M. (1965). The sociology of pottery : Questions and hypotheses arising from contemporary mexican work. In F. R. Matson (Ed.), Ceramics and man (Vol. 41, pp. 43–61). New York: Viking Fund Publication in Anthropology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gandon, E., Casanova, R., Sainton, P., Coyle, T., Roux, V., Bril, B., & Bootsma, R. J. (2011). A proxy of potters’ throwing skill: Ceramic vessels considered in terms of mechanical stress. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(5), 1080–1089.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gosselain, O. (1992). Bonfire of the enquiries. Pottery firing temperatures in archaeology: What for? Journal of Archaeological Science, 19(3), 243–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. S. (1983). The strength of weak ties: A network theory revisited. Sociological Theory, 1(1), 201–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hossner, E.-J., Schiebl, F., & Göhner, U. (2015). A functional approach to movement analysis and error identification in sports and physical education. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1339.

  • Karasik, A., & Smilansky, U. (2011). Computerized morphological classification of ceramics. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38(10), 2644–2657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lara, C. (2016). Traditions céramiques et occupation précolombienne du piémont oriental des Andes équatoriennes : le cas de la vallée du fleuve Cuyes. Nanterre: Université Paris Ouest (PhD).

    Google Scholar 

  • Livingstone Smith, A. (2001). Bonfire II: The return of pottery firing temperatures. Journal of Archaeological Science, 28(9), 991–1003.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manzo, G., Gabbriellini, S., Roux, V., & M’Mbogori, F. N. J. (2018). Complex contagions and the diffusion of innovations: Evidence from a small-N study. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. (in press).

  • Nicklin, K. (1971). Stability and innovation in pottery manufacture. World Archaeology, 3(1), 13–48.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nonaka, T., Bril, B., & Rein, R. (2010). How do stone knappers predict and control the outcome of flaking? Implications for understanding early stone tool technology. Journal of Human Evolution, 59(2), 155–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Brien, M. J., & Bentley, R. A. (2011). Stimulated variation and cascades: Two processes in the evolution of complex technological systems. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 18(4), 309–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parry, R., Dietrich, G., & Bril, B. (2015). Tool use ability depends on understanding of functional dynamics and not specific joint contribution profiles. The cognitive and neural bases of human tool use, 82.

  • Pool, C. A. (2000). Why a kiln? Firing technology in the Sierra de Los Tuxtlas, Vera Cruz (Mexico). Archaeometry, 42(1), 61–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice, P. M. (1984). Change and conservatism in pottery-producing systems. In S. E. Van Der Leeuw & A. C. Pritchard (Eds.), The Many Dimensions of Pottery. Ceramics in Archaeology and Anthropology (pp. 231–288). Amsterdam: Universiteit van Amsterdam.

  • Rogers, E. M. (1962). Diffusion of innovations. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roux, V. (1989). Development of a taxinomy to measure throwing difficulties of prehistorical and protohistorical ceramic vessels. In V. Roux in coll. with D. Corbetta, The Potter’s Wheel. Craft specialization and technical competence (pp. 93–145). New Delhi: Oxford and IBH publishing.

  • Roux, V. (2015). Standardization of ceramic assemblages: Transmission mechanisms and diffusion of morpho-functional traits across social boundaries. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 40, 1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roux, V., & David, E. (2005). Planning abilities as a dynamic perceptual-motor skill: An actualist study of different levels of expertise involved in stone knapping. In V. Roux & B. Bril (Eds.), Stone knapping: A uniquely hominin behaviour (pp. 91–108). Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roux, V., & Lara, C. (2016). Why potters have not borrowed the kiln? Comparing narratives of Indian and Ecuadorian potters. Americae, http://www.mae.u-paris10.fr/articles-articulos/why-potters-have-not-borrowed-the-kiln-comparing-narratives-of-indian-and-ecuadorian-potters/.

  • Roux, V., Bril, B., & Dietrich, G. (1995). Skills and learning difficulties involved in stone knapping: The case of stone-bead knapping in Khambhat, India. World Archaeology, 27(1), 63–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roux, V., Bril, B., Cauliez, J., Goujon, A. ., Lara, C., Saulieu de, G., & Zangato, E. (2017). Persisting technological boundaries: Social interactions, cognitive correlations and polarization. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 48, 320–335.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thalmann, J.-P. (2006). Tell Arqa, 1. Les niveaux de l’âge du Bronze. Beyrouth: Institut français du Proche-Orient.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yujian, L., & Bo, L. (2007). A normalized Levenshtein distance metric. IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, 29(6), 1091–1095.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the ANR (The French National Agency for Research) within the framework of the program CULT (Metamorphosis of societies—“Emergences and evolution of cultures and cultural phenomena”), project DIFFCERAM (dynamics of spreading of ceramic techniques and style: actualist comparative data and agent-based modeling) (ANR-12-CULT-0001-01, Roux PI). The data were collected in India by B. Bril and V. Roux; in Ecuador, by C. Lara, in Kenya by F. M’Mbogori and A.-L. Goujon. We thank Quentin Drillat for working on the analysis of the course of actions and for discussing the Levensthein Index. In Jodhpur, the support of the Rupayan Sansthan was invaluable. We take this opportunity to thank Kuldeep Kothari warmly for his help in sorting out all the logistic problems as well as Ira Sisodia and Lakshman Diwakar for their assistance in the field. We also would like to thank all the potters for their availability and their unfailing kindness. The photographs are by the authors.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, Nanterre, France

    Valentine Roux

  2. EHESS, Paris, France

    Blandine Bril

  3. Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem, Israel

    Avshalom Karasik

Authors
  1. Valentine Roux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Blandine Bril
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Avshalom Karasik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valentine Roux.

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

(DOCX 29 kb)

ESM 2

Distance from the model and linearity of shape 23 showing the better results obtained by the early adopters (in red) (PNG 60 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 1224 kb)

ESM 3

Scores obtained by the early (E) and late (L) adopters answering questions on the properties of firing structures (PNG 62 kb)

High resolution image (TIF 3982 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Roux, V., Bril, B. & Karasik, A. Weak Ties and Expertise: Crossing Technological Boundaries. J Archaeol Method Theory 25, 1024–1050 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-018-9397-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-018-9397-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation