This innovative volume illustrates the diversity of analytical approaches that archaeologists, anthropologists, and art historians take to the study of ceramics, and the diversity of interpretations they can achieve. The 15 case studies in the book come from South America (Ecuador and Peru), Mesoamerica (Maya, Toltec, Tarascan, and Valley of Oaxaca), and North America (Mississippian and the U.S. Southwest). Common themes include relationships between ceramic form, style, and identity; how changes in pottery production related to developing political complexity; and how ceramic variability is related to patterns of interaction and economic relations. Whereas archaeologists are more concerned with context, both at the site level and in relationship to other associated finds, art historians devote more attention to the objects themselves and apply theoretical and structural tropes in making interpretations and arguments. Chapters in this volume are well organized in methodological sections focused on formal analysis, iconographic analysis and intertextuality, symmetry analysis, and diachronic studies. Each section includes chapters from the different disciplines encompassed in the book.

Part I, “Revealing Natural and Supernatural Concepts through Formal Analysis,” includes two chapters focused on formal and visual characteristics of objects. David Dye (Chapter 2) discerns six ceramic styles indicative of Mississippian water spirits and employs them to locate cultural groups. Combining this method with eighteenth-century texts, he identifies symbolic meanings of these forms, their purpose, and their possible links to environmental and historic stresses. James Farmer (Chapter 3) conducts a formal analysis of Ecuadorian figurine fragments that have a contrapposto stance, focusing on examples from several areas and eras. This pose conveys movement and rest, and it has been interpreted as evidence for a humanistic ideology confined to western European art. The presence of figurines exhibiting classic contrapposto stances suggests an independent development of this humanistic quality. Although both authors use formal analyses to study ceramic styles, their research illustrates the diverse applications of this method and the rich interpretations it enables.

Part II, “Investigating Identity and Social Narrative through Iconographic Analysis and Intertextuality,” includes four chapters on analyzing imagery on ceramic figures and comparing them with symbols on other media. Three chapters examine whole or fragmentary figurines from Peru or Ecuador, investigating cultural, social, and political identity. As archaeologists, Shelia Pozorski and Thomas Pozorski (Chapter 4) emphasize provenience and context of ceramic finds to identify activities that took place at several Casma Valley sites in Peru. Identification of fez-like caps on some figurines and comparisons with warrior imagery at other sites strengthen their interpretations of the dynamics of the Sechin Alto polity. Yumi Park Huntington (Chapter 5) looks at the configuration of engraved imagery, applied after firing, and the imagery on architecture at the Cupisnique ceremonial site of Huaca de los Reyes in the Moche Valley of Peru. She argues that these forms of imagery are related to expressions of cultural identity. Sarahh Scher (Chapter 6) analyzes figural objects on Moche vessels painted with costumes that contain imagery portraying the boundary between the natural and supernatural worlds. Her semiotic analysis of human costumes reveals patterns of social and gender ideologies in Moche culture. Michael Carrasco and Robert Wald (Chapter 7) consider iconography in Classic Maya culture through an analysis of the Regal Rabbit Vase and related ceramics associated with elite feasting and gift exchange. They compare imagery on the Royal Rabbit Vase and Naranjo Stela 22, both commissioned by the royal house of Naranjo. Their intertextual analysis considers the viewers of the objects and the mythological and historical knowledge they bring with them.

Part III, “Symmetry Patterns and Their Social Dimensions,” includes research by Dorothy Washburn (Chapter 8) and by Johanna Minich and Jeff Price (Chapter 9). Symmetry analysis is a well-established technique that focuses on underlying structures of art. Washburn (Chapter 8) analyzes the step fret motif found in both Mesoamerica and the U.S. Southwest, and she suggests that this decorative tradition derived from a common origin on cloth items containing goods that were traded between both areas. The motif was later incorporated on ceramics, and these shared traditions resulted from cultural interactions. Minich and Price (Chapter 9) analyze decorative motifs on 150 Caddoan ceramic vessels from three sites in neighboring river valleys in Arkansas and Texas. They identify types of symmetry that are indicative of Caddoan identity, with smaller contrasts in pattern choices between regions reflecting small-scale regional identity, and larger similarities in pattern structure suggesting connections with Mississippian ideology. This multilevel contrast unpacks identity on several cultural and spatial levels.

Part IV, “Charting Innovation through Diachronic Studies,” includes three chapters with innovative archaeological approaches to identifying the social and cultural forces driving changes in pottery. George Bey (Chapter 10) outlines a new unit of emic analysis—ceramic sets—encompassing entire groups of ceramic forms and shared similarities in paste, vessel shape, and surface treatment. He identifies five sets in the Toltec region of Mexico, and he considers temporal changes in Toltec pottery, which reflect ceramic innovation and changing consumer preference. He argues that these household and individual patterns would not be evident using the type-variety method. Gary Feinman (Chapter 11) traces pottery traditions in the Valley of Oaxaca from 1600 BC (the advent of pottery) to the period of Spanish contact (AD 1520) to ask why pottery forms and styles changed as they did and how these changes related to social change in the valley, especially the rise of Monte Alban. He focuses on three aspects of ceramic variability: basic ware, surface decoration, and vessel form. Although traditions are relatively stable overall, and pottery production remains at the household level, there is evidence for increasing intensity and scale of production. With the decline of Monte Alban, these trends reverse with lower levels of production, fewer firing structures, and less clustering of pottery producers. Amy Hirshman (Chapter 12) examines pottery change during the development of the Tarascan state in central Mexico. Contrary to expectations that pottery production would intensify under increasing social complexity, she finds continuity in household production. Only one new elite vessel category (spouted vessels used for chocolate) appears to have been made under direct elite control. Hirshman insightfully discusses how innovation occurs among potters, drawing on past ethnoarchaeological research in the region.

Approaches taken by researchers in art history, archaeology, and cultural anthropology differ even as underlying goals are often similar. The organization of the chapters into methodological sections highlights both shared goals and differences in approaches. I confess I was more comfortable reading the chapters written by archaeologists because I could more readily grasp their methods and themes. Art historians would likely regard other chapters written by their peers as more accessible. Nevertheless, both archaeologists and art historians would benefit from seeing these varied approaches in action. This volume is well edited, and the graphics are clear. It is aimed at professional audiences who will benefit from its considerations of diverse approaches to ceramic analysis.