1 “Specialized” Production in Archaeological Contexts: Rethinking Specialization, the Social Value of Products, and the Practice of Production Rowan K. Flad Harvard University and Zachary X. Hruby University of California, Riverside ABSTRACT The contributions to this volume are introduced via a critical review of terms and concepts used in craft produc- tion studies today. Recent detailed contextual and technological analyses of artifacts from all aspects of complex societies have revealed interesting patterns that are difficult to conceptualize using a purely economic framework. Furthermore, interest in practice theory, and sociocultural theory in general, has shifted some foci of archaeological investigation toward the social aspects of production and specialization. New data, methods, and theories require a rethinking of what is meant by specialized production, and this chapter represents an introduction to this endeavor. Keywords: specialization, value, practice, ontology, production I n this chapter and in the volume as a whole, we intend to “rethink” some of the assumptions that have been made about specialized production in the theoretical literature. Many of the contributions deal with agency and practice, and we see this as a trend in craft studies. However, the vol- ume was not constructed to propose a new paradigm based on practice theory but instead focuses on drawing attention to problematic areas of craft production that tend to confound traditional analyses, such as the production of foodstuffs, ritual goods, and elite craft production. As such, the volume acts as an initial step toward revising and reenvisioning craft production studies. The contributions question the most ac- cepted notions associated with craft production, such as the nature of attached versus independent social relations and the concept of “specialization.” ARCHEOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, Vol. 17, Issue 1, pp. 1–19, ISSN 1551-823X, online ISSN 1551-8248. C  2007 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, http://www. ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/ap3a.2007.17.1.1. “Specialized” production, in one form or another, has been the focus of a great deal of archaeological research in the past two decades and has been explicitly examined in sev- eral general overviews and edited collections (Arnold 1996; Arnold and Munns 1994; Clark 1995; Clark and Parry 1990; Costin 1991, 2001b; Costin and Wright 1998; Cross 1993; Rice 1991; Tosi 1984; Wailes 1996). Nevertheless, as this volume demonstrates, there is still a considerable amount of work that needs to be done, both in terms of the application of existing models to different archaeological contexts and in terms of the critical evaluation of assumptions that have been made in previous studies. This collected work builds on previous attempts to re- consider aspects of craft production (Clark 1995; Clark and Houston 1998; Clark and Parry 1990; Cobb 1996; Costin