Ceramic Resource Selection and Social Violence in the Gallina Area of the American Southwest

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This research examines the relationship between social violence and ceramic resource procurement. Do people in middle-range societies alter resource use in response to conflict? Specifically, does social strife influence the distance to which potters in middle-range societies will travel to collect ceramic resources? Distance and quality are primary elements in clay selection. Pottery production occurred throughout the American Southwest under conditions of pervasive conflict in the 13th century A.D. Conflict in the Gallina area is evidenced by defensive architecture, such as towers and cliff houses, burned structures with human remains, and human remains with embedded projectile points and skull trauma. Two sites in the Gallina area were chosen, one with a defensive setting and architecture the other with an open site plan and no defensive structures. Ceramics from each of the sites and the clay resources in proximity to the sites were examined to see if conflict affected resource selection. Numerous field and laboratory analyses provided information about the mineralogy, chemistry, and performance characteristics of the available clays and the ceramics themselves. The combined results of the laboratory tests, mineralogical studies, and chemical comparisons indicate that Gallina potters did not alter their resource selection in response to social violence.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25303