Firing Pots in Contemporary South-Eastern Botswana

ABSTRACT For many years, archaeologists in Southern Africa have equated pottery “style” with archaeological “cultures” and modern ethno-linguistic groups. In order to investigate this association, we undertook an ethnoarchaeological study of 41 contemporary potters in south-eastern Botswana to observe what social groupings of potters correlate with their preferences for a particular style of making and decorating pots. This paper presents and analyses the firing stage of pottery manufacturing in contemporary south-eastern Botswana and looks for social boundaries in the preference for firing techniques. Unlike a study completed half a century ago, we find that firing technique preferences are village based and reflect the common technique used by potters in that locality, regardless of their linguistic affiliation, ethnic group membership, gender, age, religious persuasion or the network in which they learnt their craft.