Rethinking chaı̂ne opératoire: agency and cognition in Bronze Age Aegean pottery production

Thesis

The aim of this project is to rethink and re-envision the chaîne opératoire approach by considering theories of agency and cognition. I investigate three hypotheses: (1) chaîne opératoire is frequently engaged with only partially, (2) chaîne opératoire can be enhanced by considering theories of agency (ways of doing) and cognition (ways of thinking), and (3) that by incorporating theories of agency and cognition and further re-envisioning the framework we may arrive at a novel approach for the methodological analysis of production processes. This thesis is divided into three parts.

In Part One, Leroi-Gourhan’s chaîne opératoire approach is reviewed and the main components are defined. Developments of the chaîne opératoire approach and, in particular, adaptations of the chaîne opératoire approach for archaeology are explored. Archaeological case studies of Bronze Age Aegean pottery are compiled for analysis due to the popularity of the chaîne opératoire approach within this subject as well as pottery’s unique affordances. Upon analysis, I develop a taxonomy of three Use Types of the chaîne opératoire approach. Each Use Type draws on distinct elements of the chaîne opératoire approach. I argue that outdated theories of agency and cognition are at the center of the discrepancies between the significant scope of the framework and its practical use(s).

In Part Two, theories of agency and cognition are analyzed. I propose that the significant scope of the framework can be supported by theories of emergent, enactive, relational, co- constructive agency. Thereafter, I develop an avenue for the inclusion of these theories of agency within a chaîne opératoire approach. I then propose that the significant scope of the chaîne opératoire approach can similarly be supported by theories of embodied, enacted, and extended cognition due in part to how closely linked these theories are to process trends and milieus. Following analysis, I propose a singular framework which links these cognitive theories with process trends and milieus.

Part Three is the culmination of this work wherein I produce a novel chaîne opératoire approach which accounts for contemporary theories of agency and cognition demonstrated via application to a case study at Zakros. Throughout this project I also develop the visualization of the chaîne opératoire approach. What has historically been imagined as a linear framework, is re-envisioned commensurate with the theoretical amendments proposed. The final proposed framework and visualization effectively link the finite aspects of making with the larger phenomenon of the process of making.

Authors: Slaughter, KC

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-mpqg1rman
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: agency; pottery; chaîne opératoire; Bronze Age Aegean; network; cognition
• Subjects: Archaeology