The Ethnography of Pottery Making in Tekktha, Naogaon, Bangladesh: A Ceramic Ecological Perspective

Pottery making is an enduring craft that offers critical insights into past societies through archaeological interpretation. This ethnographic study examines contemporary pottery production in Tekktha, Bangladesh—an area with evidence of Early Historic settlement (circa 600 BCE–400 CE). Through observation and interviews with 27 members of ten potter families, the research documents the complete eight-stage technological sequence of production, from raw material selection to firing. Potters employ both hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques. Drawing on ceramic ecological theory and ethnoarchaeological scholarship (Arnold, Rye, Kramer, Roux), the analysis demonstrates how technological choices are shaped by local ecology, seasonal cycles, and cultural traditions. The findings contribute comparative data on pottery-making practices from a previously undocumented South Asian region and establish an ethnographic baseline for the Barind Tract, underscoring the value of ethnoarchaeology for generating analogical frameworks to interpret archaeological ceramics.