World Systems and Broken Plates

Glazed ceramics of Asian and European origin have played an important role as valuables in the traditional societies of island Southeast Asia. They often serve as symbols of authority, integrated into local ritual life through marriage payments, mortuary ceremonies and associations with head-taking and other practices. These objects survive today as heirloom objects, but many have been traded into the antique market or lost through breakage. Traces of broken glazed ceramics are encountered both opportunistically as surface fragments and recovered more systematically through legitimate archaeology or grave robbery. However, the existing literature has little to say about why the objects are there, what they are for, or considers that there might be several different and complex ways in which these ceramics and their residues fit into local society. This article describes the types of glazed ceramics circulating in one society, the Nuaulu people of south central Seram in Maluku, the Moluccan islands. By examining glazed ware items used in ceremonies and stored in the lofts of clan sacred houses, together with sherds found as surface litter in the vicinity of villages, it explores their functions, origins and life cycles, with a view to making connections between their contemporary role and their history.