Ceramic Petrography (Other Keyword)
1-21 (21 Records)
The late prehispanic coastal Ecuadorian societies subsumed as Manteño -Guancavilca, are imagined as seafarers of the Andean region. On balsa rafts they plied a coast dotted with ports; participants in a trading empire. This traditional model of political-economic integration is being challenged with emphasis on regional autonomy and ethnic diversity. It is proposed that the analysis of the "ordinary" Manteño -Guancavilca vessels can contribute to this debate. Large, coarse paste, roughened...
Assessing Ceramic Production and Exchange in the Early Monte Albán State (Oaxaca, Mexico) (2015)
In this paper we present the results of an ongoing study of ceramic production and exchange in the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico, during the Late to Terminal Formative (500 BC–AD 200)—the period when the Monte Albán state formed and consolidated control over its hinterland and surrounding regions. We have found that adopting a multifaceted approach that combines chemical (INAA) data with detailed qualitative and quantitative mineralogical (petrographic) data enables us to differentiate cultural from...
Ceramic Petrography and Early Intermediate Period Interaction in the Moche Valley, Peru: Current Understanding and Future Research (2015)
Understanding the spatial distribution of pottery styles in combination with pottery composition and raw materials availability can help illuminate networks of interaction among groups at a regional scale. My research focuses on distinct pottery styles of the middle and upper Moche valley that had wide distribution during the Gallinazo and Early Moche phases. The pottery assemblage from three large, high status households at Cerro León (AD 60 to 350, 2 sigma cal.) in the middle Moche valley...
Ceramics and Society within the Late Classic Motul de San José Polity: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (2017)
Over the past 15 years, Late Classic ceramics from Motul de San José and surrounding sites in the Central Petén Lakes area have been subjected to a variety of technical analyses. Modal and petrographic analyses of ceramics from sites throughout the Motul area have been used to explore intra-polity patterns of production and exchange for both elite and mundane vessels. At the same time, Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) has been conducted on sherds from Motul to define production...
A characterization study of some of the earliest ceramic building materials from sites in Rome and its surrounding area (2015)
Roman roof tiles and architectural terracottas constitute an important resource for the study of the architectural development of early Rome, through the detection of different sources and perhaps workshops in the region of the Roman capital. Unfortunately, the location of possible clay sources available to the Roman tile-makers has been obscured due to the city’s extensive urbanization. However, a drilling project in the area of the Roman Forum and other sites offers important evidence of...
Collective Social Identification at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico
This project contains the datasets resulting from my dissertation titled "Social Identification and the Capacity for Collective Action at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico (600-800 CE)," which was successfully defended in November 2018. Dissertation Abstract: Unlike traditional frontier studies that treat the frontier as monolithic and focus on core-periphery interactions involving colonialism and acculturation, this dissertation seeks to characterize the internal social dynamics of frontier...
Establishing the nature and scale of ritual behavior at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico (2017)
The northern frontier region of Mesoamerica is partially defined by its ceramic traditions (i.e., red-on-buff, incised-engraved, and resist); however, observed variation in the types belonging to decorated wares suggests these types are likely local materializations of a regional ideology. Testing this hypothesis requires first determining the provenance of decorated ceramics recovered from a northern frontier site and then exploring the intrasite distribution of local and nonlocal ceramics...
Expanding the (Micro)Scope: Exploring the technological and provenance characteristics of Inuit pottery containing atypical, animal-deriving organic paste ingredients (2015)
The extensive research on pottery manufacture in past and contemporary societies suggests that the pallet of tempering materials potters select from includes a relatively limited range of options deriving from the geological landscape, plants (e.g. chaff) and animals (e.g. bone). This tendency is significant considering that almost any material or substance can be incorporated into a paste mixture; what is included in any specific instance is a matter of choice, shaped by the potter’s learned...
From Distributed to Place-Based Communities: The Ceramic Social Geography of Late Archaic Stallings Societies (2016)
North America’s oldest pottery-making societies belonged to the Late Archaic Stallings culture of Georgia and South Carolina. The basic culture history of Stallings archaeology is relatively well-known; however, the types and scales of communities constructed by Stallings people, along with the nature of the connections between them, remain poorly understood. This poster presents preliminary results of research that uses compositional data from Stallings fiber-tempered pottery to investigate the...
Hohokam Archaeology along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project, Volume VIII: Material Culture (1984)
This is the eighth volume of a nine-volume series reporting archaeological investigations in south-central Arizona along the SaltGila Aqueduct (SGA), conducted for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) under Contract No. 0-07-32-V0101. The SGA is a 58-mile-Iong component of the Central Arizona Project that begins east of Phoenix and extends to the vicinity of the Picacho Mountains. Specialized analyses of artifacts recovered from 45 sites excavated along the SGA are reported in this volume. The...
Hohokam Archaeology along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project, Volume VIII: Material Culture (1984)
This is the eighth volume of a nine-volume series reporting archaeological investigations in south-central Arizona along the Salt-Gila Aqueduct (SGA), conducted for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) under Contract No. 0-07-32-V0101. The SGA is a 58-mile-Iong component of the Central Arizona Project that begins east of Phoenix and extends to the vicinity of the Picacho Mountains. Specialized analyses of artifacts recovered from 45 sites excavated along the SGA are reported in this volume. The...
Interactions during the Iron Agein the Lower Khabur Basin of northeastern Syria: Insights from ceramic petrography (2015)
The semi-arid steppe of the Lower Khabur Basin of northeastern Syria is a climatically marginal zone for agriculture, yet there have been episodes of settlement over the past 9000 years. Archaeological surveys have recorded more than 300 sites whose age, type and distribution on the landscape are reflections of changing socio-natural systems. The region is particularly suitable for detecting changes in both environmental and socio-political spheres because of its environmental marginality, yet...
Mortuary Spaces as Social Power: Ceramic Exchange and Burial Practice at Safford Mound (8PI3) (2018)
Mortuary spaces often served as gathering points for disparate communities in the pre-Columbian past. The deep temporal associations of many burial mounds across the southeastern United States linked living societies to the ancestral landscape, thus creating a sense of social memory that penetrated both quotidian and ritualized social practice. Safford Mound (8PI3), a burial mound located near modern Tarpon Springs, Florida, embodies some of these characteristics. In this study, we qualitatively...
New Faces, New Pressures, New Pots: Collective identities in action in the ceramic record at Lamanai, Belize (2015)
For the ancient Maya residing at the urban center of Lamanai, the period encompassing the Maya Collapse and its aftermath (A.D. 750-1150) was a time of significant changes in the fabric of day-to-day life. Widespread economic and political instability across the Lowland region seriously impacted both community and extra-local affairs. Networks of socio-economic interaction and affiliation were disrupted and people were on the move, seeking to relocate to more stable environs. The strong evidence...
Not sourcing: prospecting for Khitan/Liao ceramic production locales through the geochemical and mineralogical characterization of Khitan/Liao ceramic assemblages (2017)
Often the use of geochemical and mineralogical techniques to characterize archaeological ceramics is performed with the underlying idea that the goal of the enterprise will be the sourcing of the ceramics to their production locales. However, in many situations this goal may not be achievable due to such factors as a lack of variability in regional geologies or a lack of information on the scale, type and location of ceramic production. This paper looks at one such case from the Chifeng Region,...
Passive Accumulations: Archaeological Investigations in Support of Reconstruction and Extension of Runway 12L-30R at Williams Gateway Airport, Mesa, Arizona (2000)
Kimley-Hom and Associates are under contract with the Williams Gateway Airport Authority (WGAA) to provide services for design of the reconstruction and extension of Runway 12L-30R. A number of archaeological sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places (National Register) extend within the construction zone. Therefore, WGAA was required to take into account the potential for its undertakings to affect those archaeological sites under the terms of its lease agreement with the Air...
Petrographic Analysis of Sand and Pottery from Perry Mesa, Central Arizona (2018)
Report provides the results of petrographic analyses of pottery and sand samples from Perry Mesa, central Arizona. The samples are plain ware dated to the Late Classic (A.D. 1280–1400; Pueblo III to Pueblo IV) from four major and several smaller sites. Results indicate several specific paste recipes that could have been made on Perry Mesa, but likely not at the major sites. Some pottery was also acquired from areas to the east of Perry Mesa. Companion to Kiva article, Abbott et al. 2021, "An...
Petrography of "Nderit" pottery from Pastoral Neolithic sites surrounding Lake Turkana in Kenya (2015)
"Nderit" pottery is associated with the earliest pastoralists in eastern Africa, c. 4000-4500 bp. and is found at both settlement sites and ritual "pillar sites" surrounding Lake Turkana in northwestern Kenya. Several of the known megalithic "pillar sites" are large communal cemeteries and contain very large numbers of Nderit sherds, yet little research has been carried out on these ceramics in terms of their technology or provenance. Primary research questions concerning the early pastoralists...
The Provenance and Technology of Paynes Creek Salt Works Pottery and Briquetage (2017)
The pottery recovered from Late Classic Maya salt works sites can reveal important information about both the production and distribution of this highly valued trade item. Determination of the geographic origin of the serving vessels and storage jars recovered from salt works, for example, provides direct evidence of trade connections to other areas, as well as the geographic extent of the exchange networks through which salt was distributed. From local perspective, the technological...
Salt-Gila Aqueduct (Fannin-McFarland Aqueduct) Archaeological Data Collection Studies and Supplemental Class III Survey Project
This project presents a series of publications associated with the Salt-Gila Aqueduct Archaeological Data Collection Studies and Supplemental Class III Survey Project (SGA). The research focused on data recovery at those sites potentially subject to impact as a consequence of Central Arizona Project construction. Salt-Gila Aqueduct Central Arizona Project construction occured along a route extending 97 km from a point south of Apache Junction, Arizona, to the Picacho Reservoir. Significant...
A Thin Section Petrographic Study of Early to Late Shangshan Ceramics from Zhejiang, China (2017)
Ceramics from the early Holocene Shangshan Culture, in Zhejiang Province, China, have been subjected to thin section petrographic analysis in order to characterize clay groups, view production patterns, and aid in the development of a complete understanding of the Shangshan technological tradition. Analysis has revealed a pattern in the local production of ceramic vessels likely related to the transformations in cooking methods and dietary patterns that coincided with new evidence for the...