Defining petrographic fabrics among regional wares at La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico

Summary

Situated in the Malpaso Valley of Zacatecas, Mexico, the site of La Quemada was one of a series of polities that developed along the northern frontier of Mesoamerica during the Epiclassic period (A.D. 500-900). Widely distributed ceramic wares suggest interaction among northern frontier polities, but it remains unknown whether they are the product of widely recognized social categories (i.e., shared style) or direct, face-to-face interaction among individuals (i.e., shared composition). Answering this question requires distinguishing between local and nonlocal pottery found at La Quemada. Despite geologic homogeneity observed across the northern frontier region due to an extensive ignimbrite province, previous characterization studies involving La Quemada pottery types have observed compositional variability among sherds and clays sampled from the Malpaso Valley. This poster builds upon these studies to define the set of ceramic fabrics observed in the La Quemada assemblage using a three-tier approach: (1) qualitative sorting and description of petrographic fabrics; (2) quantitative point counting of a proportional subsample of petrographic fabrics to test their mutual exclusivity; and (3) analysis of elemental data acquired from the clay matrix of point counted sherds and a set of briquettes made from natural Malpaso clays to establish local or nonlocal provenance.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20375