Portable X-ray Fluorescence of Lower Pecos Mobiliary Art: New Insights Regarding Chaîne Opératoire, Context, and Chronology

Summary

Painted pebbles are the primary mobiliary art found in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas and northern Mexico. Previous studies of these artifacts have focused on stylistic variation of the imagery and interpretation of the role these artifacts played within Lower Pecos societies. The focus of this study is the use of portable X-ray fluorescence on Lower Pecos painted pebbles to conduct elemental analyses, providing insight into the chaîne opératoire of painted pebble production. Using a sample of recently excavated painted pebbles, as well as a sample from a private collection, a total of 257 pXRF measurements were collected on 73 pebbles. We determined that charcoal was used as a pigment for black paintings and that iron-based mineral pigments were used for red paintings. The 30 excavated pebbles range in age from ~8000 cal BP to 550 cal BP, and the stratigraphic and chronologic context of these pebbles provides a dataset for analyzing not only the chaîne opératoire of painted pebble production, but also allows us to analyze the potential for changes in production through time. This presentation summarizes the results from the pXRF analysis, and discusses the larger archaeological implications for Lower Pecos painted pebbles.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Methodology and Interpretation in the Archaeology of Rock Art   •
• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20280