Repair and reuse: then and now
The attitudes that ancient peoples held about broken pottery, so different from perspectives in our consumerist age, are important to consider at a time when the effects of excessive energy consumption threaten the future of humanity. Today, the demand for perfection in ceramic products results in the disposal of millions of only slightly damaged wares annually. It is too easy and inexpensive to replace chipped cups or cracked plates with flawless new pieces. Large quantities of wares with minor firing imperfections never reach the market in the first place, but instead are culled at the factory, crushed, and buried in landfills. In contrast, ancient peoples in general not only tolerated irregularities such as firing clouds, warpage, and kiln debris, but they also frequently repaired broken vessels and returned them to service or altered them for reuse as other kinds of tools. The differences between ancient and modern practices are perhaps nowhere more profound than in North America, the birthplace of modern mass-consumerism and the commercial strategy of planned obsolescence.
Repair of pots in ancient North America, whether the damage consisted of hairline cracks or breakage of a
