Slips and Lasers: Characterizing White Slip Clays on Salado Polychrome Ceramics from the Phoenix Basin of Arizona using LA-ICP-MS

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Salado polychrome pottery (Roosevelt Red Ware) was produced in numerous locations across the American Southwest between ca. 1300 and 1450 CE. In this study, we use laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) of white slip clays on Salado polychrome pottery from the Phoenix Basin of Arizona, paired with the results of recent neutron activation analysis (NAA) of body clays from the same vessels, to explore the possibility that multiple networks of interaction may be reflected in the materials used in their production. White slips are essential in Salado polychrome production, but only certain clays afford the necessary material characteristics to successfully create these wares. NAA results indicate local production of Salado polychromes within the Phoenix Basin, but white clays are not common in the local geology, and were not among the materials used by the region's Hohokam/Ancestral O’odham inhabitants in their pottery making prior to ca. 1300 CE when Salado polychromes first appeared in the area. Our examination of these specialized raw materials adds new depth to understandings of the social and material dimensions of Salado polychrome production and the nature of the Salado phenomenon as it was realized in different regions of the US Southwest.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Ceramics and Archaeological Sciences   •
• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50690