The reconstruction of the technical systems of ceramic production and of its 'chaine operatoire' is a means of exploring certain social structures in time and space. For many years, methodological procedures based on multidisciplinarity have made it possible to analyse both materials and methods of fabrication for this purpose. Session IV-3 organised at the 18th Congress of the UISPP in 2018 aimed to highlight the contribution of technological approaches to ceramics, both in archaeology and in ethnology, to the analysis of pre- and protohistoric societies. The case studies focus on the Neolithic and the European Bronze Age, but also on the megalithism of our era in Senegal.

These seventeen papers, from a colloquium held at the XIVth UISPP Congress at the University of Liege in 2001, combine archaeological, ethnographic and technical approaches to present the current state of research in the study of pottery technology. The colloquium's aim was to highlight key topics, such as clay preparation, shaping techniques, decoration and firing and post-firing treatments, whilst addressing problems in methodologies. Ethnographic contributions present case studies from the Amazon, Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Gambi and Senegal; two papers present methods of technical identification; nine papers reconstruct and interpret pottery manufacturing processes in archaeological contexts. These examine assemblages from Neolithic and Chalcolithic sites in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Mauritania and the Levant. Nine papers in English, the rest in French; all have English and French abstracts.