Archaeological ceramics: knowledge and archiving

The material remains of the past are the field of study of archaeologists. When studying them, the archaeologist works as a semioticist, since he interrogates the material evidence as a trace and image of the past. Archeosemiotics studies archaeological evidence in two ways: to find its past meaning and to assign it a present meaning as an object of knowledge. The artifacts are like texts that offer in their constitution the elements to recognize meanings of a very diverse type: utilitarian, emblematic, symbolic, identity, etc. Thus, archaeological archives are established, that keep the memory of past cultures. The article explores ceramic repositories as a result of a series of semiotic transformations that make their collections objects of knowledge and preservation.