pXRF meets GIS: A Preliminary Investigation of Spatial Variability in Domestic Ceramics at Songoy-Cojal, north coast, Peru.

Summary

Archaeometric approaches to ceramic analysis allow us to critically examine differences in ceramic manufacture and use. By integrating pXRF methods with spatial analysis, it becomes possible to contextualize such differences. Do elemental and technological differences correspond to distinct ceramic styles? Are these differences spatially meaningful? Attendant to our broader objective investigating Mochica-Gallinazo identity and coexistence at the Songoy-Cojal site complex, Zaña Valley north coast, Peru, the current work explores these two questions through data obtained during our short-term lab season in 2014. We collected elemental data, using a pXRF analyzer, on a sample of Gallinazo and Mochica ceramics to test for differences in chemical composition between the two ceramic styles. We then mapped the results alongside data collected in previous seasons. Our geospatial analysis uses three lines of evidence, stylistic, technological, and elemental, to explore intra-site spatial variability. We present the results of this preliminary analysis that tested our original questions of material and technological differentiation, and highlight the best areas to target in future investigations.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage