An Evaluation of Type Definitions for Viejo Period Red-on-brown Pottery

Summary

This is an abstract from the "25 Years in the Casas Grandes Region: Celebrating Mexico–U.S. Collaboration in the Gran Chichimeca" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We recently began a long-term research program focused on identifying and excavating Viejo Period settlements in the near vicinity of the massive, latter Medio Period settlement known as Paquimé (ca. A.D. 12-1450) in Chihuahua, Mexico. We have located previously unrecorded Viejo sites and completed limited excavation at one of them. A persistent difficulty during this early endeavor has been identification of red-on-brown painted sherds to typological definitions as described by Charles Di Peso and his colleagues. We contend that the published type descriptions are not effective for identifying sherds at the type level. At this time, we have simply categorized Viejo painted sherds as "red-on-brown." Moreover, as we and others have discussed, the Viejo period phase designations are flawed. Researchers should be cognizant of these deficiencies when contemplating the roots of Paquimé.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 25 Years in the Casas Grandes Region: Celebrating Mexico–U.S. Collaboration in the Gran Chichimeca   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24771