Clay, Conflict, and Village Aggregation

Compositional Analyses of Pre-Classic Pottery from Taos, New Mexico

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2591605
AutoresSeverin M Fowle, Severin Fowles (0000-0003-3910-3886, Barnard College, autor de correspondencia), Severin M Fowles, Leah Minc, Leah D Minc (Oregon State University), Samuel Duwe (University of Arizona), David V Hill (The University of Texas at Austin)
Año2007
Volumen72
Número1
Páginas125-152
Fecha de publicación2007-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/40035301
OpenAlexW1987821839
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas25
Referencias citadas12

As was the case throughout much of north-central New Mexico, the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries marked a period of rapid settlement pattern change in the Taos District as dispersed pithouse and small pueblo hamlets were replaced by tightly clustered pueblos and ultimately by the emergence of large aggregated villages. Here we consider the effects of this transition on the manner in which local potters procured raw clay for the production of black-on-white ceramics. Adopting the Rio Grande del Rancho drainage as our study area, we first outline the major clay sources within the drainage. We then report on neutron activation and petrographic analyses of both modern clays as well as archaeological ceramics from sites that span the settlement transition in question. These analyses suggest that settlement aggregation was accompanied by a noticeable reduction in the diversity and quality of clay sources used by local potters, most likely as a result of newly restricted procurement strategies associated with the formation of buffer zones between village aggregates. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implications of this trend with respect to the economic situation of early large villages in the area

Archaeology · Geochemistry · Geography · Period (music) · Petrography · Pottery · Settlement (finance) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Geology · Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies