Evidence of Painted Mimbres Ceramic Production Patterns in the Sapillo Valley from the Analysis of Lake Roberts Vista Site Painted Sherd Collection

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences 2024" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This presentation discusses the findings of a project investigating ceramic production in a hinterland of the Mimbres region, from a diachronic view across painted ware types. The Sapillo Creek Valley is a volcanic upland in southwestern New Mexico between the Mimbres and Gila River Valley culture-centers. The painted pottery recovered in 1995 from Lake Roberts Vista, a medium-sized Mimbres-Mogollon pithouse and pueblo habitation site, represents the full occupation timeframe (550–1130 CE). Sample sets of painted ceramic tempers from Lake Roberts Vista and alluvial sands from side drainages in the Sapillo Valley were analyzed by petrographic mineral characterization under low-power optical microscopy and X-ray Diffraction. Combined, these methods provided technologically and cost-accessible implementable data. A comparison of the mineral data sets was used to point to answers regarding where local Mimbres potters obtained temper raw materials, likely production loci, Lake Roberts Vista’s level of on-site production, and changes in these patterns across time. My results highlighted drainage groups concentrated around large sites as likely temper sources utilized by local Mimbres potters. Locational shifts over time were noted, generally following site growth/decline patterns. The tested ceramics paint a picture of an active distribution network within the valley and acquisition from outside.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences 2024

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37770.0