Juntando La Junta: Bringing Together Ceramics Research in the La Junta Region of West Texas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The La Junta de los Ríos (or La Junta) region of West Texas and Northeast Chihuahua is composed of villages scattered around the confluence of the Rio Conchos and Rio Grande. Based on limited investigations, La Junta village sites (AD 1200-1684) appear to be archeologically similar to, yet distinct from, adjacent Mogollon groups. While the region has been historically understudied, renewed scholarship provides new opportunities to reappraise this region and its relationships with surrounding cultural groups. The growing body of ceramic collections from La Junta provides opportunities to employ quantitative methods to develop compositional profiles that provide a means to evaluate manufacture locales and patterns of trade. The present study combines published instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and petrographic results with new data from archeological sites within Big Bend Ranch State Park to provide an updated summary of regional ceramic trends. The results illuminate aspects of the local economy of La Junta, as well as broader patterns of regional interaction and exchange.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36693.0