The Production and Exchange of Chupadero Black-on-white Pottery and Its Relationship to Social Identity

Summary

Produced between A.D. 1150 and 1550, Chupadero Black‐on‐white pottery is found throughout central and southern New Mexico, and adjacent parts of Texas, Arizona, and Chihuahua, Mexico. Despite its widespread distribution, chemical and mineralogical compositional data indicate that the pottery was manufactured in only two areas of central New Mexico – the Jumanos portion of the Salinas province and Sierra Blanca region. Distributional studies indicate that the Chupadero pottery produced in the two regions exhibits substantially different patterns of exchange. The majority of vessels produced in the Salinas province were used in the Jumanos pueblos, with smaller numbers going to their Manzanos neighbors. In contrast, compositional data indicate that pottery from Sierra Blanca production sources extensively circulated through interregional exchange networks. This paper explores the differing patterns of interregional exchange as they relate to the social identity of consuming populations. The findings of this study suggest that Jumanos and Sierra Blanca populations may have used this ceramic as a broad social marker to differentiate themselves from neighboring Pueblo groups to the north and west. The common usage of Chupadero pottery as a social referent suggests that populations in both regions endowed these vessels with similar cultural meanings and values.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Prehistoric Economies in Middle-range Societies: Papers in Honor of Katherine Spielmann

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16046