Ceramic Variability at Alkali Ridge Site 13

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Alkali Ridge Site 13 is a large ancestral Pueblo village in southeastern Utah dating to the late A.D. 700s. Ceramics from the site consist almost entirely of small gray ware jars and decorated red ware vessels in a variety of forms. Extensive excavations by Harvard at the site in the 1930s recovered more than 100 whole or reconstructible vessels, which provide data on the range of vessel forms and sizes at the site. Analysis of rim sherds from recent excavations by Brigham Young University in 2012 and 2013 demonstrate variability in raw material choices and measurable vessel properties such as porosity. Notably, potters used a narrow range of clays, which oxidize red, to make red ware vessels. Some gray ware vessels are made with clays similar to those used for red ware, but potters also used a wide range of other clays to make gray wares, using firing methods to control the final color. We combine data from sherd and whole vessel analyses to explore the relationship among vessel form, size, raw material selection, and the technological properties of vessels at the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39739.0