Jeffrey R Ferguson
Biographic Data
| ID | 3645962 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jeffrey R Ferguson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jeffrey R |
| FAMILY NAME | Ferguson |
| SIGNATURE | FERGUSON J R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 48 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 210 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 48 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Commoner-Shaped Patterns of Production and Exchange Under Aztec Domination
Studies of pottery production and exchange under the Mexica (Aztec) empire have emphasized the role of elites, the constraints created by the market system, or the effects of persistent regionalism in shaping economic patterns. We build on those studies by emphasizing the role of commoners and how their decisions and strategies shaped pottery production and exchange after the formation of the Mexica empire. We present a neutron activation analysi…
Developing a Non‐Destructive Sourcing Method for Glassy Andesite and Basalt Artifacts
Glassy andesite and basalt are volcanic rocks often valued as a lithic raw material by ancient people. Crucial to examining trade and migration routes of ancient communities is lithic sourcing based on geochemical comparisons of artifacts and known quarry outcrops. Nevertheless, most past sourcing attempts using energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence (ED‐XRF) analysis were restricted by traditional skepticism about obtaining accurate chemical compo…
The case for schismogenesis between Late Developmental Northern Rio Grande and Chacoan communities in Northern New Mexico
Non-Destructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence sourcing of glassy andesite and basalt artifacts in Upper Paleolithic southwestern Japan
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis for lithic raw material provenance, based on comprehensive geological knowledge, offers indispensable insights into ancient human behavior. Nevertheless, the provenance study of non-obsidian materials is still a challenging field. Within the Setouchi region of southwestern Japan, the sourcing of lithic tools manufactured from glassy andesite and basalt (GAB) has been constrained due to skepticism surrounding the …
Micaceous Mindsets
Source to sink in precolonial Jamaica
Turkey domestication and provisioning in the Mesa Verde Region (US Southwest), Pueblo I to Pueblo III (725-1280 CE)
Tasks, Knowledge, and Practice
We examine provenance data collected from three types of geological resources recovered at Goat Spring Pueblo in central New Mexico. Our goal is to move beyond simply documenting patterns in compositional data; rather, we develop a narrative that explores how people's knowledge and preferences resulted in culturally and materially determined choices as revealed in those patterns. Our analyses provide evidence that residents of Goat Spring Pueblo …
Biografía, función y análisis iconográfico de dos cilindros efigie procedentes de cuevas mayas de Laguna Pethá, Chiapas
En este trabajo se analiza la iconografía de dos cilindros efigie duplicados mayas hallados en cuevas y abrigos rocosos de Laguna Pethá, municipio de Ocosingo, Chiapas. A través de un análisis comparativo nosotros tentativamente identificamos un nuevo estilo regional maya asociado a la presencia de aletas en cilindros de cerámica vinculados a Toniná en el valle de Ocosingo. Sus características iconográficas sitúan a estas piezas próximas al perio…
In-Field Obsidian XRF Analysis of Sites in the Lion Mountain Area and Gallinas Mountains of West-Central New Mexico
The Gallinas Mountains of west-central New Mexico were home to agriculturalists between ca. a.d. 850 and 1450. Ongoing research of the Lion Mountain Archaeology Project (LMAP) has allowed for in-field analysis of surface obsidian artifacts via portable handheld energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (ED-XRF). Influenced by principles of preservation archaeology and the archaeological repository curation crisis, the LMAP has sought to d…
Use of the Little-Known Local Obsidian Source of Ojo Zarco at La Magdalena in Guanajuato, Mexico
Excavations conducted by Beloit College in 1958 and 1960 identified the site of La Magdalena in the Bajío of Mexico. Investigators have since highlighted three primary phases of occupation at La Magdalena, two of which were proposed to have been culturally influenced by Teotihuacan or Tula. Modern research in the Bajío mostly diverges from those postulations of distant connections, supplanting them with local patterns that hold much more explanat…
Local Production and Developing Core Regions
A core region is the first place for expected shifts in archaeological materials before, during, and after political changes like state emergence and imperial consolidation. Yet, studies of ceramic production have shown that there are sometimes limited or more subtle changes in the ceramic economy throughout such political fluctuations. This article synthesizes recent efforts to address political economic changes via geochemical characterization …
Local pottery, hybrid identities
Defining isotopic signatures of potential procurement sources
Red pigment in the Central Plains
James Murie, early twentieth century ethnographer and member of the Pawnee Nation, once wrote that the "things that are most acceptable to the Pawnee gods are smoke, fat, paint, and flesh" (Murie 1981:466). Here we describe red paint at Kitkahahki Town, a late eighteenth–early nineteenth-century Kitkahahki Pawnee village in north-central Kansas. Using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, we compare a…
Movement of Pots (and People) Across the Landscape
Lori Barkwill Lovea* , Jeffrey R. Fergusonb & Darrell Creelca Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, TX, USAb Department of Anthropology and MURR Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USAc Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
Combining big data and thick data
Caddo or Cahokian? Stylistic and compositional analyses of a fine-engraved vessel from northwest Iowa
A ceramic vessel found at a Mill Creek culture (eastern Initial Middle Missouri variant) site in northwest Iowa exhibits features characteristic of both the Southern Caddo Holly Fine Engraved type and the Fine Engraved Carving type of the American Bottom Fine Grog series. Knowing the vessel’s likely manufacturing locale is important in understanding relationships between Middle Missouri tradition people and distant groups to the south. To determi…
Recent Research in the Sahuaripa Region of Sonora, Mexico
This article summarizes research conducted in the Sahuaripa and Bacanora valleys of Sonora, Mexico. Located in the Serrana culture area of the Sierra Madre Occidental, data from this region speaks to several prevalent debates regarding the precolonial era of Northwest Mexico. Radiocarbon dates support demographic reconstructions for sizeable populations post-1000 AD; a time when other regions of the Northwest/Southwest (NW/SW) experienced signifi…
Petrographic and chemical analyses of sherds from the Kurin Lapita site (Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia), ca. 3000–2700 BP
Tracing the Circulation of Iconographic-style Red Ware in East-central Arizona
The appearance of Fourmile Polychrome in the AD 1320s signaled a shift in the decorative layout, use, and perhaps even value of red-slipped pottery in east-central Arizona. Bowls were often painted with iconographic-style designs that diverged from the geometric imagery of earlier White Mountain Red Ware. The type was circulated through the region and even copied in some localities. The provenance of Fourmile Polychrome has remained a mystery due…
Analysis of Ceramic Compositional Data from Late Developmental Period Sites in the Tewa Basin, New Mexico
The presence of Cibola white ware ceramic types at Late Developmental period sites in the Northern Rio Grande (NRG) region of New Mexico has been interpreted as a strong indicator of cultural interaction with, or immigration from, communities associated with the Chaco regional system in the American Southwest. We report the results of an analysis of chemical composition data obtained from neutron activation analysis (NAA) of pottery sherds origin…
Obsidian procurement and social interaction at the Harris site, Mimbres River Valley, New Mexico
Compositional analysis of Intermountain Ware pottery manufacturing areas in western Wyoming, USA
Sources of obsidian for the Sinagua of Northern Arizona (USA)
Reduction Strategies and Geochemical Characterization of Lithic Assemblages
Based on a simple model of lithic procurement, reduction, and use, we generate predictions for patterns in source diversity and average distance-to-source measurements for flaked stone assemblages left behind by small-scale and residentially mobile populations. We apply this model to geochemical data from obsidian artifacts from three regions in western North America. As predicted, results show markedly different patterns in the geochemical compo…
The When, Where, and How of Novices in Craft Production
Woodland period ceramic provenance and the exchange of Swift Creek Complicated Stamped vessels in the southeastern United States
An Experimental Test of the Conservation of Raw Material in Flintknapping Skill Acquisition
Many lithic assemblages from around the world reveal little Variation that can be attributed to significant differences in skill among their makers. One possibility far the lack of skill variability could have resulted from a method of novice flintknapper instruction that embedded the learning process in the normal production of chipped stone tools. If skilled knappers allowed less-skilled individuals to participate in only the reduction stages t…
Temper mixture models and assessing ceramic complexity in the emerging Tarascan state
Bronze Age Ceramic Economy
We describe the Bronze Age ceramic economy of the Benta Valley in Hungary. In the Bronze Age, long-distance trade in metals, metal objects, and other specialty items became central to expansive prestige goods exchange through Europe. Was that exchange in wealth, however, linked to broader developments of an integrated market system? The beginnings of market systems in prehistory are poorly understood. We suggest a means to investigate marketing b…
Following A Glittering Trail
Protohistoric Ancestral Apache Dismal River groups (A.D. 1600–1750) participated in large exchange networks linking them to other peoples on the Plains and U.S. Southwest. Ceramic vessels made from micaceous materials appear at many Dismal River sites, and micaceous pottery recovered from the Central High Plains is typically seen as evidence for interaction with northern Rio Grande pueblos. However, few mineral or chemical characterization analys…
Caddo or Cahokian? Stylistic and compositional analyses of a fine-engraved vessel from northwest Iowa
A ceramic vessel found at a Mill Creek culture (eastern Initial Middle Missouri variant) site in northwest Iowa exhibits features characteristic of both the Southern Caddo Holly Fine Engraved type and the Fine Engraved Carving type of the American Bottom Fine Grog series. Knowing the vessel’s likely manufacturing locale is important in understanding relationships between Middle Missouri tradition people and distant groups to the south. To determi…
Implications for Migration and Social Connections in South-Central New Mexico Through Chemical Characterization of Carbon-Painted Ceramics and Obsidian
Magdalena Black-on-white ceramics from two sites (Gallinas Springs and Pinnacle Ruin) in west-central and southwestern New Mexico have been interpreted as evidence of a migration of Northern Pueblo groups from the Four Corners region into southwestern New Mexico during the thirteenth century. They also appear to be linked to sites with similar carbon-painted ceramics on the Rio Puerco of the east and beyond. An additional site (Roadmap Village) r…
Geomorphological setting and Native American acquisition of buff-firing ceramic clays in the Lower and Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona
Marginalized Potters and Ceramic Compositional Groups
Investigating Projectile Point Raw Material Choices and Stylistic Variability in the Gallina Area of Northwestern New Mexico
Relatively little attention has been given to projectile point morphology and raw material use in the Gallina (AD 1100–1300) area of northwestern New Mexico. Analysis of projectile points among six Gallina sites illustrates the spatial distribution of general point styles and material choice across the west, central, and eastern parts of the culture area. The composition of raw materials within the Gallina culture area gives insight to the differ…
Data Recovery Investigations
This report summarizes the archeological findings of the 2011 data recovery investigations at the Murvaul Creek site, 41PN175, in far northeastern Texas in Panola County. The site is located along Farm-to-Market Road (FM) 10 approximately 1 mile north of Gary, Texas (Figure 1). Geo-Marine, Inc. (GMI), performed this work under contract to the Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division (TxDOT ENV) under the Texas Antiquitie…
Local Production and Developing Core Regions
A core region is the first place for expected shifts in archaeological materials before, during, and after political changes like state emergence and imperial consolidation. Yet, studies of ceramic production have shown that there are sometimes limited or more subtle changes in the ceramic economy throughout such political fluctuations. This article synthesizes recent efforts to address political economic changes via geochemical characterization …
Defining isotopic signatures of potential procurement sources
Combining big data and thick data
Recent Research in the Sahuaripa Region of Sonora, Mexico
This article summarizes research conducted in the Sahuaripa and Bacanora valleys of Sonora, Mexico. Located in the Serrana culture area of the Sierra Madre Occidental, data from this region speaks to several prevalent debates regarding the precolonial era of Northwest Mexico. Radiocarbon dates support demographic reconstructions for sizeable populations post-1000 AD; a time when other regions of the Northwest/Southwest (NW/SW) experienced signifi…
Obsidian sourcing analysis by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for the Neolithic sites of Slavnaya 4 and 5, Sakhalin Islands (Russia)
Rapid qualitative compositional analysis of ceramic paints
Crossing Comb Ridge
Understanding how the Chaco regional system operated requires examining the social networks maintained by great house communities during both the peak and decline ofChaco's influence. We used neutron activation analysis (NAA) of pottery, kiln wasters, and clays from three great house communities in southeast Utah (Bluff, Cottonwood Wash, and Comb Wash) to examine pottery production and the interaction networks of their residents. West of Comb Rid…
Bone Cave
The presence of obsidian artifacts available for hydration and sourcing analysis, a high concentration of well-preserved faunal remains, a limited time span of occupation, and a wealth of obsidian research in the region, make Bone Cave an ideal example of an often ignored class of archaeological site. Although highly disturbed, analysis of the excavation results allowed us to determine that Bone Cave served as a probable pre-Mazama (prior to 6850…
The case for schismogenesis between Late Developmental Northern Rio Grande and Chacoan communities in Northern New Mexico
Source to sink in precolonial Jamaica
Turkey domestication and provisioning in the Mesa Verde Region (US Southwest), Pueblo I to Pueblo III (725-1280 CE)
Local pottery, hybrid identities
An Experimental Test of the Conservation of Raw Material in Flintknapping Skill Acquisition
Many lithic assemblages from around the world reveal little Variation that can be attributed to significant differences in skill among their makers. One possibility far the lack of skill variability could have resulted from a method of novice flintknapper instruction that embedded the learning process in the normal production of chipped stone tools. If skilled knappers allowed less-skilled individuals to participate in only the reduction stages t…
Bone Cave
The presence of obsidian artifacts available for hydration and sourcing analysis, a high concentration of well-preserved faunal remains, a limited time span of occupation, and a wealth of obsidian research in the region, make Bone Cave an ideal example of an often ignored class of archaeological site. Although highly disturbed, analysis of the excavation results allowed us to determine that Bone Cave served as a probable pre-Mazama (prior to 6850…
Reduction Strategies and Geochemical Characterization of Lithic Assemblages
Based on a simple model of lithic procurement, reduction, and use, we generate predictions for patterns in source diversity and average distance-to-source measurements for flaked stone assemblages left behind by small-scale and residentially mobile populations. We apply this model to geochemical data from obsidian artifacts from three regions in western North America. As predicted, results show markedly different patterns in the geochemical compo…
The When, Where, and How of Novices in Craft Production
Woodland period ceramic provenance and the exchange of Swift Creek Complicated Stamped vessels in the southeastern United States
National Register Testing at 41BQ285, Bosque County, Texas
Prewitt and Associates, Inc., conducted archeological test excavations at 41BQ285 in June 2006 for the Texas Department of Transportation under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 4102. Site 41BQ285, in southeastern Bosque County, was located during an archeological survey for the proposed replacement of the FM 56 bridge over the North Bosque River. It is a prehistoric campsite buried in a cumulic soil in the upper deposits of a late Holocene alluvial t…
Geomorphological setting and Native American acquisition of buff-firing ceramic clays in the Lower and Middle Gila River Valley, Arizona
Source Determination of an Obsidian Projectile Point from the Massacre Canyon Site (25HK13), A Keith Phase Occupation in Southwest Nebraska and Implications for Social Connections During the Early Cer…
The use of chemical analyses to determine the sources of obsidian in central Plains Early Ceramic sites has potential to illuminate social contacts and patterns of exchange of goods. X-ray fluorescence analysis determined that a diagnostic point from the Massacre Canyon site in southwest Nebraska is made of obsidian from the Valle Grande source of the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. This adds to the small number of central Plains Early Ceramic obs…
Bronze Age Ceramic Economy
We describe the Bronze Age ceramic economy of the Benta Valley in Hungary. In the Bronze Age, long-distance trade in metals, metal objects, and other specialty items became central to expansive prestige goods exchange through Europe. Was that exchange in wealth, however, linked to broader developments of an integrated market system? The beginnings of market systems in prehistory are poorly understood. We suggest a means to investigate marketing b…
June Sinclair Lewis
Temper mixture models and assessing ceramic complexity in the emerging Tarascan state
Rapid qualitative compositional analysis of ceramic paints
Data Recovery Investigations
This report summarizes the archeological findings of the 2011 data recovery investigations at the Murvaul Creek site, 41PN175, in far northeastern Texas in Panola County. The site is located along Farm-to-Market Road (FM) 10 approximately 1 mile north of Gary, Texas (Figure 1). Geo-Marine, Inc. (GMI), performed this work under contract to the Texas Department of Transportation, Environmental Affairs Division (TxDOT ENV) under the Texas Antiquitie…
Crossing Comb Ridge
Understanding how the Chaco regional system operated requires examining the social networks maintained by great house communities during both the peak and decline ofChaco's influence. We used neutron activation analysis (NAA) of pottery, kiln wasters, and clays from three great house communities in southeast Utah (Bluff, Cottonwood Wash, and Comb Wash) to examine pottery production and the interaction networks of their residents. West of Comb Rid…
You Get It Here, I’ll Get It There
The Lowland Patayan in the southern U.S. Southwest
Following A Glittering Trail
Protohistoric Ancestral Apache Dismal River groups (A.D. 1600–1750) participated in large exchange networks linking them to other peoples on the Plains and U.S. Southwest. Ceramic vessels made from micaceous materials appear at many Dismal River sites, and micaceous pottery recovered from the Central High Plains is typically seen as evidence for interaction with northern Rio Grande pueblos. However, few mineral or chemical characterization analys…
Implications for Migration and Social Connections in South-Central New Mexico Through Chemical Characterization of Carbon-Painted Ceramics and Obsidian
Magdalena Black-on-white ceramics from two sites (Gallinas Springs and Pinnacle Ruin) in west-central and southwestern New Mexico have been interpreted as evidence of a migration of Northern Pueblo groups from the Four Corners region into southwestern New Mexico during the thirteenth century. They also appear to be linked to sites with similar carbon-painted ceramics on the Rio Puerco of the east and beyond. An additional site (Roadmap Village) r…
Inter-laboratory validation of the WDXRF, EDXRF, ICP–MS, NAA and PGAA analytical techniques and geochemical characterisation of obsidian sources in northeast Hokkaido Island, Japan
Obsidian sourcing analysis by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) for the Neolithic sites of Slavnaya 4 and 5, Sakhalin Islands (Russia)
Ceramic Production and Interaction in the Northern Range of Trinidad
Regional syntheses based on data recovered mostly from outside of the Northern Range have characterized the mountainous region in northern Trinidad as a boundary between two distinct interaction spheres during the Early Ceramic Age (ca. AD 350–650/800) (Boomert 2000 Boomert, A. 2000. Trinidad, Tobago and the Lower Orinoco interaction Sphere: An Archaeological/Ethnohistorical Study. Alkmaar: Cairi Publications. [Google Scholar]). Changes occurring…
Investigating Projectile Point Raw Material Choices and Stylistic Variability in the Gallina Area of Northwestern New Mexico
Relatively little attention has been given to projectile point morphology and raw material use in the Gallina (AD 1100–1300) area of northwestern New Mexico. Analysis of projectile points among six Gallina sites illustrates the spatial distribution of general point styles and material choice across the west, central, and eastern parts of the culture area. The composition of raw materials within the Gallina culture area gives insight to the differ…
Compositional analysis of Intermountain Ware pottery manufacturing areas in western Wyoming, USA
Sources of obsidian for the Sinagua of Northern Arizona (USA)
Marginalized Potters and Ceramic Compositional Groups
Archaeology (41 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (39 works) · Geography (39 works) · Geology (26 works) · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology (20 works) · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies (16 works) · Pottery (15 works) · Art (14 works) · Paleontology (12 works) · Materials Science (11 works)