Journal article
Determining Provenance of Shell-Tempered Pottery from the Central Plains Using Petrography and Oxidation Analysis
American antiquity, Vol.75(1), pp.134-157
01/2010
DOI: 10.7183/0002-7316.75.1.134
Abstract
Late prehistoric sites on the Central Plains contain both grit/grog- (mineral-) tempered pottery and shell-tempered pottery. This appearance of shell-tempered pottery around cal A.D. 1000 has traditionally been explained as a colonization from the Mississippi River valley with further dispersal via trade. As a result, very little is known about the role of this material in the region. We report the results of a provenance analysis of shell-tempered pottery from seven sites extending from the Missouri River valley to north-central Kansas. We use petrography and oxidation analysis to compare the shell-tempered pottery across these localities and the shell-tempered to the mineral-tempered pottery from each locality, and we compare mineral inclusions and clay characteristics in all pottery with published geological and pedological information for each locality. The results demonstrate that shell-tempered pottery was locally produced throughout at least a portion of the Central Plains. Differences in firing technology are apparent across the study area and may play a role in the distribution of shell-tempered pottery. Two other results are the identification of composite temper in a notable proportion of the sherds studied, and indications of from where on the landscape Central Plains potters were procuring their raw materials.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Determining Provenance of Shell-Tempered Pottery from the Central Plains Using Petrography and Oxidation Analysis
- Creators
- Donna C Roper - Department of Sociology/Anthropology/Social Work, 204 Waters Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506 (droper@ksu.edu)Richard L Josephs - Department of Geoscience, 121 Trowbridge Hall, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 (richard-josephs@uiowa.edu)Margaret E Beck - Department of Anthropology, 114 Macbride Hall, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 (margaret-beck@uiowa.edu)
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- American antiquity, Vol.75(1), pp.134-157
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- DOI
- 10.7183/0002-7316.75.1.134
- ISSN
- 0002-7316
- eISSN
- 2325-5064
- Number of pages
- 24
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/2010
- Academic Unit
- Anthropology
- Record Identifier
- 9984083850802771
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