Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Local Production And Developing Core Regions: Ceramic Characterization In The Lake Pátzcuaro Basin, Western Mexico, Anna S. Cohen, Amy J. Hirshman, Daniel E. Pierce, Jeffrey R. Ferguson

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

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 (neutron activation analysis; NAA) in the Lake Pátzcuaro Basin in western Mexico. This region was home to the Purépecha state and then empire (Tarascan; ca. AD 1350-1530), one of the most powerful kingdoms in the Americas before European …

Legacy - August 2021, South Carolina Institute Of Archaeology And Anthropology--University Of South Carolina

SCIAA Newsletter - Legacy & PastWatch

Contents:

South Carolina Lt. Governor Pamela S. Evette Honors Tommy Charles with the Order of the Palmetto…p. 1

Director’s Notes…p. 2

Ground Penetrating Radar Survey at the Wesley United Methodist Church, Beaufort, South Carolina…p. 8

A Copper-Covered Wooden Object from the Wateree Valley…p. 9

Remote Sensing at the Adamson Mounds Site (38KE11), Kershaw County, South Carolina…p. 12

Numismatic History of the Charlesfort/Santa Elena Site: The U.S. Marine Corps Maneuver Grounds…p. 14

Just How Far Did Soto Go? …p. 19

Conservation and Documentation of a Significant Camden Battlefield Collection…p. 22

Full Circle: John Bartlam’s Porcelain Returns to the Carolinas…p. 25

New …

Osl And Ceramic Analysis At The Humphrey Site, Ryan Mathison

Anthropology Department: Theses

The Sand Hills of Nebraska are a unique environment located in the west-central portion of Nebraska. This portion of North America has long supported human life. One group in particular that called the Sand Hills home are the Dismal River people. Dismal River is the name that archaeologists gave to a group of horticulturalists that lived in circular structures on the sand dunes, often near the rivers, in the Sand Hills. This group, while generally known through archaeology, also has a potential historic or ethnographic presence in the form of the Cuartalejo Apache visited by Ulibarri, and potentially mentioned by …

Rediscovering Brazil: The Marajoara Style In Modernist Art And Design, Alyson Brandes

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

During the Portuguese rule of Dom Pedro II until 1889, through the years of the First Brazilian Republic (1889-1930) and into the First Vargas Regime (1930-1945), Brazil struggled to solidify a strong national identity that would finally unify the country and legitimize its rich cultural heritage. The discovery and excavation of Marajó Island in the 1870s provided evidence of a great, ancient civilization, and inspired Brazilian Art Deco and early Modernist artists. Polychrome ceramic urns, vessels, and tangas (female pubic covers) were among the most abundant archaeological finds, many with zoomorphic and geometric motifs that show the cultural importance of …

A Preliminary Study Of Smithport Plain Bottle Morphology In The Southern Caddo Area, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This study expands upon a previous analysis of the Clarence H. Webb collection, which resulted in the identification of two discrete shapes used in the manufacture of the base and body of Smithport Plain bottles. The sample includes the Smithport Plain bottles from the Webb collection, and four new bottles: two previously repatriated specimens in the Pohler Collection, and two from the Mitchell site (41BW4) to test whether those specimens align morphologically with the Belcher Mound or Smithport Landing specimens. Results indicate significant allometry and a significant difference in Smithport Plain body and base shapes for bottles produced at the …

Data For The Distribution Of Flat-Backed Canteens, Kristina L. Whitney

Anthropology Graduate Student Publications

Since water transport vessels are often a highly conservative vessel form, the appearance of a new water vessel shape—the flat-backed canteen—in the American Southwest around the time of Spanish arrival raises questions concerning its introduction. These data are the basis of a study aimed at documenting the presence of the flat-backed canteen in the American Southwest from the sixteenth through twentieth centuries and explores changes in their distribution and use through time. A total of 128 flat-backed canteens were analyzed from archaeological and ethnographic collections, while 97 additional New World canteens were documented through an extensive literature review. Its contemporary …

Asymmetry Of Caddo Ceramics From The Washington Square Mound Site: An Exploratory Analysis, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

While pursuing a study of 3D geometric morphometrics for ceramic burial vessels that often articulate with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) from the ancestral Caddo region, there have been no shortage of potentially meaningful observations, one of which--rotational asymmetry in coil-built vessels--is discussed here. Using Geomagic Design X (reverse-engineering software) and Geomagic Control X (inspection software), metrics associated with rotational asymmetry were generated then analyzed. Results indicate variable asymmetry among the different vessel shapes (i.e., bottles, jars, etc.), which may augment and strengthen studies and discussion of vessel form. Future directions include the incorporation of directional …

Linking Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (Inaa) With Geology In The Ancestral Caddo Region, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

This poster illustrates the success of a novel method of INAA that was employed to reveal geochemical signatures in Caddo ceramic vessel sherds that correlate with local surficial geology. The geochemical data from the sherd assemblage were used within an exploration of potential ceramic provenance, which was successful at demarcating sherds from ceramic vessels made from clays in either the Claiborne or Wilcox Groups. Further geochemical segregation was also apparent between the Recklaw Formation in the Claiborne Group, and the Weches Formation in the Wilcox Group. These results point to a high degree of geochemical variability within the East Texas …

Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (Inaa) Of Shell-Tempered Ceramics In The Ancestral Caddo Region: Rethinking Methods, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

The geochemical analysis of shell-tempered ceramics in the ancestral Caddo region has been a matter of confusion since the mid-1990s. While Caddo archaeologists have long perceived most or all of the shell-tempered ceramics in East Texas to have originated from two different areas within the Red River basin, the geochemical data and interpretations remain inconsistent with that idea. This poster takes another look at this dataset, and considers an approach that was initially put forth by MURR, and then seemingly abandoned. Using only the geochemical data from shell-tempered sherds, we take a closer look at the contributions of calcium (Ca), …

Toward A Morphometric Phylogeny Of Caddo Ceramics: A Test Of 3d Geometric Morphometrics, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula, Michael J. O'Brien

CRHR: Archaeology

In this poster we use 3D geometric morphometrics as an exploratory tool for examining diversity in vessel form (or shape) among 27 whole or reconstructed Caddo vessels from the Vanderpool site in Smith County, Texas. Forty-one landmarks from each vessel were exported to version 2.5 of Morphologika for generalized Procrustes analysis and principal components analysis and were then exported to R for cluster analysis (depending on sample size). Despite the small sample size, results indicate that 3D geometric morphometric analysis is an avenue of ceramic research where substantive analytical gains can be realized.

At The Confluence Of Gis And Geochemistry: Identifying Geochemical Correlates Of Ripley Engraved Caddo Ceramics, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula

CRHR: Archaeology

In this poster, we discuss a new approach to the identification and definition of spatial trends in archeologically-recovered ceramics associated with geochemical results produced using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Using all of the Ripley Engraved INAA samples, we posit that clays in the Claiborne and Wilcox Groups can be successfully demarcated by sodium (Na), cerium (Ce), and zinc (Zn). Using a subset of those data from the Big Cypress Creek basin, we find that ceramics manufactured in three different Caddo political communities can be successfully demarcated based upon differential concentrations of arsenic (As), iron (Fe), and vanadium (V) found …

Advances In Documentation, Digital Curation, Virtual Exhibition, And A Test Of 3d Geometric Morhpometrics: A Case Study Of The Vanderpool Vessels From The Ancestral Caddo Territory, Robert Z. Selden Jr., Timothy K. Perttula, Michael J. O'Brien

CRHR: Archaeology

Three-dimensional (3D) digital scanning of archaeological materials is typically used as a tool for artifact documentation. With the permission of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, 3D documentation of Caddo funerary vessels from the Vanderpool site (41SM77) was conducted with the initial goal of ensuring that these data would be publicly available for future research long after the vessels were repatriated. A digital infrastructure was created to archive and disseminate the resultant 3D datasets, ensuring that they would be accessible by both researchers and the general public (CRHR 2014a). However, 3D imagery can be used for much more than documentation. To …

Response & Resistance: A Comparison Of Middle Connecticut River Valley Ceramics From The Late Woodland Period To The Seventeeth-Century, Julie Woods

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Native Americans from the middle Connecticut River Valley of New England experienced massive social disruptions during the seventeenth century due to European settlement, but not much is known about their cultural continuities and/or discontinuities during this dynamic period. As an additive technology, ceramics embody the technical choices of potters made at the time of manufacture thus enabling the study of the effect, if any, of colonialism on indigenous material culture and practices in New England. This study examines ceramic assemblages from one Late Woodland period site and one seventeenth-century site in Deerfield, Massachusetts to explore the extent to which ceramics …

Epistemology And Synthesis: Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis And The Caddo Tradition, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

The statistical groupings illustrated herein represent the current iteration of Caddo INAA compositional groups based upon the chemical composition of archaeologically-recovered ceramics. For some time, a number of Caddo archaeologists have thought these results to be lacking. This poster symbolizes the first step toward a new interpretation of chemical composition groups, and the initial instancce within which GIS has been employed as an analytical tool.

Additional New Radiocarbon Dates From East Texas Caddo Sites, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR: Archaeology

As a follow-up to the radiocarbon analyses reported by Perttula and Selden (2013), in this article, we report on five new radiocarbon dates obtained from Caddo sites in East Texas. The radiocarbon samples are charred organic remains scraped off of one surface of whole vessels or sherds. These samples are from the Ware Acres site (41GG31), the H. C. Slider site in Cherokee County, an unknown site in the upper Neches River basin in Smith County (9-SC), and an unknown Titus phase site (11-BCJ) in the Big Cypress Creek basin. All of the dates are calibrated using OxCal v4.1.7.

Analysis Of The Ceramic Sherds From Area C At The Ware Acres Site (41gg31), Gregg County, Texas, Timothy K. Perttula, Robert Z. Selden Jr., R. Bo Nelson

CRHR: Archaeology

The Ware Acres site (41GG31) was discovered by Buddy Calvin Jones in 1951 on an alluvial terrace of Grace Creek, a southern-flowing tributary to the Sabine River in the southwestern part of the city of Longview, Texas. The site is best known for Jones’ discovery and excavation of an eighteenthcentury Caddo burial with an abundance of European trade goods (Jones 1968:21-24). However, Jones also investigated other parts of the site, which contained extensive Caddo habitation deposits, especially one area at the southern part of the site that had Late Caddo Titus phase midden deposits and remnants of house structures. A …

A New Perspective On Late Holocene Social Interaction In Northwest Alaska: Results Of A Preliminary Ceramic Sourcing Study, Shelby L. Anderson, Matthew T. Boulanger, Michael D. Glascock

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research examines the evidence for prehistoric ceramic exchange networks over the last 2000 years in northwest Alaska through the use of neutron activation analysis of ceramic artifacts. Results from ceramic analysis on eight coastal and inland archaeological sites identified three source macrogroups and three associated subgroups. Clay source diversity and shared source macrogroups between geographically distant sites suggest the use of multiple sources and/or the movement of pots between production locales, mirroring related patterns in pottery stylistic data. Although additional analytical work is needed to fully understand the changing character of clay procurement and ceramic distribution across this time …

Abajo Red-On-Orange And Early Pueblo I Cultural Diversity In The Northern San Juan Region, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

During the early Pueblo I period, between A.D. 750 and 800, the first aggregated villages formed in what are now southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado. At the same time, a new ceramic type, Abajo Red-on-orange, appeared and became the predominant decorated ceramic type at some early villages. Both the technology and the highly variable designs of Abajo Red-on-orange were unprecedented in local ceramics, suggesting the involvement of immigrant potters, a period of unusual innovation, or both. This paper documents the technology, distribution, and designs of Abajo Red-on-orange and what they suggest about early Pueblo I cultural diversity.

Early Pueblo I Ceramic Variability And Cultural Diversity, Janet Hagopian, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

Early Pueblo I ceramics are predominately undecorated gray utility ware with much smaller amounts of painted white ware and red ware. Although many archaeologists have emphasized the lack of variability in Pueblo I ceramic assemblages, close examination of Animas-La Plata Project assemblages reveals significant variation in clays, temper materials, and vessel shape and size. At a larger scale, at least three distinct early Pueblo I ceramic traditions can be defined across the northern San Juan region. This paper examines ceramic variability among Animas-La Plata sites and relates it to cultural diversity within the project area and in the broader region.

Craft Specialization And Exchange Among The Virgin Anasazi, James R. Allison

Faculty Publications

A large proportion of the culinary ceramics found on 11th century Anasazi sites in the Moapa Valley of Nevada were manufactured more that fifty miles to the east, in northwestern Arizona. This paper uses analyses of ceramics from sites in southeastern Nevada, northwestern Arizona, and southwestern Utah to more precisely define the regional distribution of these ceramics and to assess their degree of standardization in form and technology. Questions relating to the development of community specialization and interaction in egalitarian societies are--examined in light of these analyses.