Directions Forward for Ceramic Studies in the Far Southwest (original) (raw)
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Diverse types of analysis and interpretive goals have been applied to aboriginal ceramics in the California deserts. This brief discussion focuses specifically on vessel forms as clues to functional patterns in the archaeological landscapes, and the contributions that can potentially be made at the level of field observations and basic laboratory analysis. Some previous approaches seem to suffer from poor replicability, too limited applicability, interpretive sterility, and/or insufficient documentation. An alternative focus on a small number of simple, relatively well-defined, and interpretively significant attributes is proposed. A few thoughts are offered here concerning the ways in which evidence from prehistoric ceramics is being generated and used in the California deserts region. First, the scope needs to be narrowed down a little: • There is a considerable range in general kinds of ceramic artifacts in this region, including pipes, figurines, rattles, anvils, and scoops, among others. The discussion here is just concerned the most abundantly represented kind of ceramics: pottery vessels, such as ollas, jars, bowls, canteens, and trays. • A considerable range of kinds of analyses have been applied to local pottery. Those analyses include studies of clays and inclusions (petrography, x-ray fluorescence, neutron activation analysis), manufacturing techniques (shaping by paddle-and-anvil vs. coil-and-scrape, firing in oxidizing vs. reducing atmospheres), residues (charcoal, cross-over immunoelectrophoresis), decoration (painting, incising, punctation, burnishing, appliqué), and physical dating (radiocarbon, luminescence). This discussion is limited to the vessels' forms. • Research objectives that have been addressed through local ceramic analyses include chronology, ethnic identity, patterns of mobility and exchange, and technology. The emphasis here is on the usefulness of this evidence to interpret site functions, and beyond those local functions to infer settlement patterning or landscape archaeology. • Finally, there are two main approaches to describing and classifying the results of ceramic analyses: classification by types, and classification by attributes. In previous papers it has been argued that there are serious drawbacks in the overuse or premature use of typologies (Laylander 2009, 2010; Laylander and Schaefer 2014; Schaefer and Laylander 2014). Those arguments are not repeated here, but the primary focus is on attributes and the choices made concerning which attributes to document and analyze. Malcolm J. Rogers and Michael R. Waters created typologies of vessel forms. Rogers did
Investigations by Malcolm J. Rogers of archaeological ceramics from southern California and the broader “Yuman” area beginning in the 1920s provide the foundation for all subsequent ceramic studies in the region. Although much information about his methods and analyses remains unpublished, his type collections and notes curated at the San Diego Museum of Man evidence efforts to develop a regional ceramic typology influenced by ethnographic observations. This paper describes how the work of Rogers has shaped studies by later researchers. Recently, larger sample sets and new analytical techniques are helping to refine and sometimes refute his early interpretations of archaeological ceramics. http://www.pcas.org/documents/4834Burton.pdf
Vessels for change: perspectives on the study of prehistoric ceramics in Baja California after
2016
Malcolm J. Rogers pioneered the study of prehistoric pottery in the Yuman region, recording important evidence, both archaeological and ethnographic, that otherwise would now be lost. Recent researchers have followed up on several aspects of Rogers’s work, elaborating or revising many of his original conclusions. As this work progresses, several key questions still need to be addressed: How long ago did local pottery-making begin? How far did its use extend prehistorically? What internal circumstances or external influences stimulated its adoption and set limits to its subsequent spread? Archaeologists continue to debate which of the attributes of pottery’s chemistry, mineralogy, manufacturing techniques, vessel forms, or decoration are most informative about issues relating to regional chronology, the identification of cultural traditions, prehistoric patterns of travel and exchange, and the functions of ceramics within the region’s native cultures. One of Rogers’s most important c...
Memorias: Balances y Perspectivas de la Antropología e Historia de Baja California, 2006
Malcolm J. Rogers pioneered the study of prehistoric pottery in the Yuman region, recording important evidence, both archaeological and ethnographic, that otherwise would now be lost. Recent researchers have followed up on several aspects of Rogers's work, elaborating or revising many of his original conclusions. As this work progresses, several key questions still need to be addressed: How long ago did local pottery-making begin? How far did its use extend prehistorically? What internal circumstances or external influences stimulated its adoption and set limits to its subsequent spread? Archaeologists continue to debate which of the attributes of pottery's chemistry, mineralogy, manufacturing techniques, vessel forms, or decoration are most informative about issues relating to regional chronology, the identification of cultural traditions, prehistoric patterns of travel and exchange, and the functions of ceramics within the region's native cultures.
Excavations at La Villa: Continuity and Change at an Agricultural Village, 2015
This is the first of two chapters that discuss the pottery recovered during recent excavations at La Villa, AZ T:12:148 (ASM). This collection was recovered from features in Madison Street and 13th Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona. A total of 14,103 sherds, representing a minimum of 3,819 vessels, were recovered from features located in five spatially demarcated areas. Painted Hohokam ceramic types comprise 25.1 percent of the sherds, red ware 1.4 percent, extrabasinal painted types 0.03 percent, plain ware 73.2 percent, and sherds of indeterminate ware 0.3 percent. The earliest painted Hohokam type present is Estrella Red-on-gray, the latest is Late Sacaton Red-on-buff, and, with the exception of Middle Sacaton 2 Red-on-buff, every intervening ceramic type is represented in the collection; all are well-illustrated. Limited use of the project area during the Classic period was documented in the current collection by the recovery of one Pinto, Gila, or Cliff Polychrome sherd. Interaction with people living in other portions of the Southwest is documented by the recovery of four extrabasinal ceramic types: Deadmans Black-on-red Ware from the San Juan River region of southeastern Utah/southwestern Colorado; Kiatuthlanna Black-on-white Ware from east-central Arizona/west-central New Mexico; Black Mesa or Sosi black-on-white Ware from northeastern Arizona; and Mogollon Red Ware from the mountain valleys and uplands on either side of the Arizona-New Mexico border. The polychrome sherd mentioned previously may also have been made elsewhere. The La Villa ceramic analysis focused on three issues: (1) feature and context dating; (2) change through time; and (3) evidence of ceramic production or exchange. The second and third issues are closely related and make extensive use of temper provenance and related data. Subsistence practices, as reflected in the metric and morphological vessel function data, primarily relate to the second research issue. The final portion of the chapter examines ceramic variability related to clay type, temper source, presence/absence of calcium carbonate, firing temperature and atmosphere, as well as the concentration and intensity of Middle Sacaton buff ware production.
American Antiquity, 2013
We report on thin section petrographic analysis of plainware ceramic sherds from two Late Prehistoric hunter-gatherer sites in the Peninsular Ranges of San Diego County, California. We describe several distinctive compositional groups and com- pare these with previously analyzed ceramics and geological field samples to infer probable raw materials and provenance. In addition, taking into account archaeological and ethnohistoric context, we suggest cultural processes that may have con- tributed to the observed distribution across sites of three dominant compositional groups distinguishable within the gen- eral “brownware” category. The study demonstrates the potential of a compositional approach for investigating cultural practices among prehistoric hunter-gatherer populations with plainware ceramic craft traditions.
Laboratory of Anthropology, Incorporated. Technical series. Bulletin ; no. 11. | Technical series (Laboratory of Anthropology, Inc.), 1943
Mera, H. P. (Harry Percival), 1875-1951 [author] Ceramic developments in southern and southeastern New Mexico. H.P. Mera author for the Laboratory of Anthropology, Incorporated, published by the Edwards Brothers, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Includes bibliographical references (pages 17-20). Pottery analysis Pottery types Indian pottery New Mexico
1998
The history of Americanist archaeology can be profitably approached through an examination of ceramic design studies in the puebloan region of the American Southwest. An intellectual tradition is represented throughout these studies, grounded in the assumption that ceramic design variation can be reflected, among other things, in prehistoric social groupings. Within this tradition, a number of differences in method, theory, and application can be distinguished, including (1) the classificatory systems employed, (2) the spatial and temporal scales at which ceramic design variation was studied, and (3) the potential functional role of stylistic attributes on pottery. The debates, both intellectual and social, surrounding the development of method and theory in the New Archaeology are clarified by this historical review, as are the transitions to Culture History and from the New Archaeology in the American Southwest.