2D Geometric Morphometric Analysis of Ceramic Vessel Profiles from Phoenix Basin Hohokam Sites

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Geometric Morphometrics in Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This work tests the feasibility of using 2D geometric morphometric analyses of archival vessel profiles to reevaluate vessel form classifications from Pueblo Grande in order to aid in asking new questions of the dataset. Two-dimensional profile drawings of whole and reconstructible ceramic vessels were routinely made during archaeological projects in the Phoenix Basin in recent decades, creating a valuable archive of 2D shape information. Archaeologists working at Pueblo Grande in the early 1990s recovered, documented, and analyzed over 2,000 whole and reconstructible vessels, giving substantial attention to considerations of vessel morphology. The overwhelming majority of these whole and reconstructible vessels were recovered from mortuary contexts and have since been repatriated, precluding additional analysis of the original objects. In addition, standard classifications and analyses of vessel forms pose challenges for addressing new questions with existing data. Because of the large amount of additional data recorded for these vessels during the Pueblo Grande project, relationships between vessel shape and numerous other characteristics can be tested and compared to existing models of ceramic production and exchange for the area. A smaller collection of archival vessel profiles from the site of Las Colinas is similarly evaluated and compared.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Geometric Morphometrics in Archaeology

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32140