Characterizing Micaceous Vessels on the Central High Plains

Summary

Ceramic vessels made from micaceous materials appear at many Protohistoric Dismal River (Ancestral Apache; AD 1600-1750) sites in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. Dismal River groups were participants in large social and economic exchange networks linking them to other peoples on the Plains and U.S. Southwest. Previous scholars considered the micaceous pottery recovered from these Central High Plains sites as evidence of interaction with northern Rio Grande pueblos and assumed that all micaceous ceramics originated in northern New Mexico. Our recent analyses, including macroscopic evaluation combined with petrography and neutron activation analyses, indicate that only a small number of Dismal River micaceous ceramics are derived from New Mexico clays. The remaining ceramics were likely manufactured using materials available on the High Plains, specifically in Colorado and Wyoming. These new data provide potential insights into Dismal River social networks and seasonal mobility patterns as people traveled between the Western and Central Plains to acquire resources.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage