Pots and Evolution: Response to Neff and Schiffer et al.

This reply seeks to answer the comments by Neff, Schiffer and Longacre by stating the following: 1) evolutionary theory in archaeology is limited by the over-extension of biological attributes to non-biological artefacts, such as pottery. 2) evolutionary theory when applied to technological studies has an underlying technological determinist implication, and hence is inappropriate for use in the study of ancient technologies. 3) the subfields and disciplines of ceramic studies in archaeology are becoming increasing isolated from each other and from the main stream of interpretation, as evidenced by exclusionary bibliographies, language and study groups. 4) ceramic studies are best approached on a contextual, case-by-case basis.