Ethnographic projects, produced in the context of colonial ethnography
and anthropology and presenting communities as unchangeable and
living in an eternal present; these ethnographies have been used in the
creation of archaeological interpretative models. This article reexamines
Margot Dias’s research in Macupulane (district of Manjacaze, province
of Gaza) and addresses the need for historically informed ethnographic
and ethnoarchaeological research. The aim of this article is to
discuss the need to account for change when formulating ethnoarchaeological
investigation by reviewing the changes that have occurred
in Macupulane’s ceramic production since 1959. While in the past
potting was an activity practiced exclusively by women, today it is
dominated by men who use the wheel to produce vessels in large quantities,
aiming to supply regional markets. Historically situated factors
and events, such as Portuguese colonialism and the Mozambican civil
war, deeply transformed local social relations of production. By combining
a diachronic (historic) perspective and short term ethnographic
observation we can more readily contribute to long-term archaeological
research. Historically informed ethnoarchaeology addresses
change, rather than focusing on synchronic models that continue to
present non-western populations as living in an eternal present.
