From Water to Land: Analysis of Prehistoric Shell from Wupatki Pueblo

Summary

This research focuses on the prehistoric shell artifacts recovered from excavations at Wupatki Pueblo. The shell artifacts from Wupatki Pueblo were analyzed in order to accurately determine the genus and species, artifact types, trade routes, and uses of shell. By looking at manufacturing techniques, this research determined if shell artifacts were traded or brought to Wupatki Pueblo as finished products by the Hohokam or if shell manufacturing occurred at Wupatki Pueblo. To determine the significance of shell artifacts at Wupatki Pueblo, the shell assemblage was compared to shell assemblages of other prehistoric northern Arizona sites and to shell assemblages from Hohokam shell manufacturing sites. Ultimately, this research adds valuable information about trade, migration, and social networks between the Hohokam and the Ancestral Puebloans, which is important to the understandings of function, complexity, ideology, adaptation, resilience, and the foundation of modern Pueblo cultures.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20581