The Chaine Operatoire and movement of people, skills, materials, pots, and time in the Southwest British Neolithic.

The 
chaîne opératoire is a model for determining the technical sequence for the making of objects where there is evidence missing for that production process. For example, there is little or no evidence for firing ceramics during the British  Neolithic except for the pottery itself.  Inference  is used to fill in the gaps in our knowledge about production of objects found in the archaeological record. 
La Chaine Operatoire  was devised by Andre Leroi-Gourham in 1964. He was a French cultural anthropologist. It became used by archaeologists globally due to the relationship between social groups and technological behaviors  being established by ethnoarchaeologists such as Gosselain, Lemonnier, Arnold. 
For an experimental ceramic archaeologist, it has provided the framework for the re-enactment of the whole production sequence of a prehistoric pot  from sourcing raw materials, processing them, making the pots and firing them.  This sequence of ceramic production is a universal. Criticisms of the chaine leveled are that it is subjective and heuristic. But in the case of ceramics this is not so. It’s impossible to make a pot without following this sequence.  It’s the individual parts of the chaine which become diverse and are dependent on the behaviors of specific social groups. 
To assess a Ceramic assemblage within the Chaine Operatoire model, three characteristics of the assemblage need to be recorded. 
1. The method of manufacture, the surface marks or finishing traits which have been left on the pot. 
2. The provenance of raw materials through petrographic analysis which provides information on the clay paste recipes and the tempers used. 
3. The form or shape of the pot( this is where typologies can be incorporated) and the function of the pot. 

The Hembury Hillfort Neolithic pottery assemblage is hugely variable methods of manufacture, clay paste recipes and the form and function of the pots.  I counted 3-4 distinctly different clay paste recipes.