![]() On the floor of Feature 303, a Middle Rincon phase (AD 1000-1100) pithouse, were 15 vessels, four of which were unfired. ![]() Desert Archaeology excavated a portion of the Julian Wash site prior to the construction of the Interstate 10 and 19 interchange. Sometimes we find evidence for pottery production in structures. Curtis, “A Papago Potter,” shows an O’odham woman making a vessel using a paddle. Among the many artifacts buried with her were a metate, four lapstones, two pieces of hematite pigment, a handstone, and two polishers-probably the tools she used to manufacture vessels.Ī 1907 photograph by Edward S. At the Yuma Wash site in Marana, we excavated a mortuary feature containing the remains of an older woman (aged 45 to 55 years at death) lying on a layer of broken, unfired storage jar sherds. Historically among the O’odham people-descended from Hohokam groups-the women made pottery vessels, and it is likely that Hohokam ceramic production was under the control of women as well. Jenny Adams can identify polishers due to the distinctive wear present on them). Polishing stones were used to smooth the surfaces of pots (my colleague Dr. Pottery was made using coils of clay that were bonded and thinned using a paddle-and-anvil technique. For these areas, we can reconstruct social and economic networks based on the movement of ceramics. This has allowed us to identify many petrofacies in 11 different regions. This has allowed us to trace the movement of pottery across the basin and identify certain villages where large amounts of pottery were made by specialists and then traded for other things, like food or other types of manufactured items.ĭesert Archaeology is unique in having collected and analyzed almost 1,500 sand samples throughout Arizona. ![]() Mary Ownby with a petrographic microscope), the location of the sand temper source can be determined for most sherds. When examined microscopically (by me with a binocular microscope and by Dr. Washes contain sands that erode from nearby terraces and mountains, and their compositions vary throughout the basin based on the geology of the source rock. ![]() Hohokam pottery makers in the Tucson Basin mined clay from areas around their homes, gathered sand from nearby washes, and mined iron-bearing minerals from deposits in the Tucson Mountains that they ground into pigment for the designs they painted or for the coating slips.ĭesert Archaeology has collected and analyzed hundreds of sand samples from locations in the Tucson Basin and identified their distinct rock and mineral compositions. The ingredients used to create a pottery vessel include water, clay, tempering materials (which prevent vessels from cracking during drying and/or breaking during firing), colored slips that coat the surfaces of vessels, pigments used in the slip or for decoration, and fuel. Over the past 30 years, Desert Archaeology employees have analyzed tens of thousands of sherds recovered from hundreds of sites. The Hohokam are well known for the pottery they made from roughly AD 500 to 1450, which was used for storage, food preparation, cooking, and serving tasks as well as ceremonial purposes. One might think that we would know everything there is to know about the subject by now, but new discoveries are being made in both museum collections and from ceramics recently uncovered during new excavations. This week’s blog is written by James Heidke, Desert Archaeology’s senior ceramic analyst.Īrchaeologists have been studying Hohokam pottery for about 100 years. Hohokam Ceramic Studies: Past, Present, Future
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