Petrographic analysis of decorated ceramic types from La Quemada

Petrographic analysis of decorated ceramic types from La Quemada, Zacatecas, Mexico
Andrea Torvinen, Arizona State University
WereLaQuemadadecoratedceramicsproducedlocally?
Figure1.DistribuAonoftheSMOvolcanicfield.
ReproducedfromSwansonetal.(2006:126,Figure1).
“Tepozan-like”
Zacatecas
Ponce
Tepozan
Mochtehuma
Durango
•  ElPiñónandMochtehumaaretheonlysiteswithouttufffabricsherds
•  AlloftheTepozanand“Tepozan-like”sherdswereassignedtotheFineorCoarse
TuffFabrics,suggesAngamorerestrictedpasterecipe(i.e.,poNercommunity)
•  TheAngelesResisttypesdiffermostfromtherestoftheLaQuemadaresisttypes
withmanyofthemremainingcurrentlyunassignedorhavinggranophyrictexture
•  ThefoursherdsfromAltaVistaassignedtotheDenseTuffFabric(toprowof
photo)sharethe“lazyS”moAfwiththePoncesherdsfromLaQuemada,also
assignedtotheDuffTenseFabric
•  Theonly“Tepozan-like”sherdthatcouldnotbeassignedtothetufffabrics
(boNomrightinphoto)isstylisAcallysimilartotheLasVentanasresistsherds
DenseFineTuff
CoarseTuff
Granophyric
Volcanic
Unassigned
TotalSampled
TepozanResist
9
0
6
0
0
0
15
“Tepozan-like”
8
0
7
0
0
1
16
PonceResist
3
5
2
3
2
0
15
UnclassifiedResist
1
3
6
4
0
1
15
AngelesResist*
Buenavista
ElZapote
0
3
3
0
1
0
2
6
4
8
0
2
0
0
1
20 30
5 15
0 10
LasVentanas
6
0
3
3
2
1
15
ElTeúl
ElPiñón
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
5
0
9
0
0
2
14
AltaVista
Aguascalientes
Buenavista
Jalisco
Jalisco
ElPiñón
ElTeúl
ElZapote
AltaVista
Mochtehuma
TOTAL
LasVentanas
0 4 0 0 0 8 12
0 0 0 0 0 5 5
33 13 38 25 14 41 164
*AngelesResistincludesboththebichromeandpolychrometypes
PreliminaryPetrographicFabrics
Iden6fica6onandDescrip6onofPetrographicFabrics
Ofthemorethan800ceramicssampledfromsevenfronAersubareas,theresist
wareistheonlyonepresentineachoftheceramicassemblages.Theanalysisbegan
withtherecordingofquanAtaAvedataforTepozanResist(n=13)andPonceResist
(n=9)sherds,tworesisttypespreviouslyassignedtovolcanicglassfabricclassesby
bothStrazicich(1995)andWells(2000).Unsurprisingly,thevolcanicglassfabricwas
easytorecognizeandisreferredtohereasaseriesoftufffabricsthatvarybasedon
thesizeanddensityoftheglassshardsobservedinthinsecAon(seeboxtoright).
DetailedpastedescripAonswerewriNenforthetufffabricsusingthemodified
Whitbread(C:F:V)methodoutlinedbyQuinn(2013).
ThedescripAonprocesswasfollowedbya“quicksort”analysisoftheresistsherds
sampled(n=164).TheresultsofthequicksortareprovidedinTable1.Someofthe
observaAonstonoteare:
•  51%oftheresistsherdssampledhavebeenassignedtooneofthetufffabrics
Fabrics
AngelesResistBichrome/Polychrome
FineTuff
Unclassified
LaQuemadaTypes
ThestudyareaislocatedintheSierraMadre
Occidental(SMO)geologicprovince(Figure1),
whichincludesoneofthelargestignimbrite
depositsintheworld,measuringapproximately
400,000km3(Aguirre-Díazetal.2008).Dueto
thegeologichomogeneityoftheregion,itis
likelythatpetrographicanalysiswillnotbe
sufficientforestablishingtheprovenanceof
ceramictypesrecoveredfromLaQuemadaand
othernorthernfronAercenters.Thisconclusion
issupportedbypreviouspetrographicanalyses
conductedbyStrazicich(1995)andWells
(2000),inaddiAontothepilotstudyofresist
ceramicspresentedhere.
PastedescripAonswerewriNenusing
quanAtaAvedatacollectedfor22La
Quemadaresistsherds,thena“quick
sort”wascompletedfortheremaining
164resistsherdssampledfromLa
QuemadaandotherfronAercenters.
OtherNegaAveTypes
ThehilltopcenterofLaQuemadaintheMalpasoValleyofZacatecas,Mexico,was
thefocalpointofoneofseveralpoliAesthatdevelopedalongthenorthernfronAerof
MesoamericaduringtheEpiclassicperiod(A.D.500-900).NorthernfronAerpoliAes
areknowntohaveinteractedduetotheirsharedmaterialculture(i.e.,paAobanqueNecomplexes,colonnadedhalls,andtheexchangeofobsidianandshell
products),butthemechanism(s)ofthisinteracAonarenotfullyunderstood.Ceramic
wares,suchasred-on-buff,incised-engraved,andresist,arealsowidelydistributed
acrosstheregionandprovideameansofanalyzingpastsocialnetworks.What
remainsunknowniswhethernorthernfronAerwaresaredisAncttypesproducedand
consumedlocallyoriftheywereproducedinonepolityandconsumedinanother.
AnsweringthisquesAonusingmethodsofceramiccharacterizaAonwilldetermineif
regionalceramictradiAonsweretheresultofexchangenetworksorthedevelopment
ofasharedideologythatwasmaterializedinceramicstyle.
LaQuemada
Types
FineTuff
DenseFineTuff
CoarseTuff
Characterizedbyfine-grained
volcanicglass,plagioclase
feldspar,andpumicefragments
Fabricissameasfinetuffbut
withhigherdensityandsmaller
glassshardsandplagioclase
Inclusionsarecoarse-grained
fragmentsofvolcanicglassand
pumice
ConclusionsandFutureResearch
•  ThewidedistribuAonofresistceramicsacrossthenorthernfronAerthatshare
petrographicfabricssuggeststhateither:(1)thepasterecipeandoperaAonsequence
usedtoproduceresistpoNeryaresharedregionally;or(2)resistvesselswere
producedinonefron6erpolityandconsumedbyothers.
•  AddiAonalcharacterizaAontechniques(SEMorICP-MS)willbeimplementedtocollect
dataontheelementalorchemicalcomposiAonoftheclaymatrixortemperinclusions
tofinalizetheprovenanceassignmentsfordecoratedceramictypes.
•  UlAmately,thisprojectwilldeterminewhich,ifany,ceramictypeswerebroughtto
LaQuemadafromareasoutsideoftheMalpasoValley.
•  Ceramiccharacteriza6ondatawillbeexpandedinthefuturetodeterminewhere
nonlocalceramicsfoundatLaQuemadaoriginated,aswellasexplorethestructureof
socialnetworksthatcanbetracedamongnorthernfronAerpoliAesusingceramics.
Granophyric
DisAnguishedbyrock
fragmentswithgranophyric
texture(i.e.,intergrowthsof
quartzandfeldspar)
Volcanic
Highoccurrenceofigneous
(bothvolcanicandplutonicin
origin)rockfragments
Bibliography
Aguirre-Díaz,GerardoJ.,etal.(2008)TheIgnimbriteFlare-UpandGrabenCalderasoftheSierraMadre
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Quinn,PatrickS.(2013)CeramicPetrography.Archaeopress,Oxford.
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Acknowledgements
ThisresearchwasmadepossiblebyfinancialsupportfromtheNaAonalScienceFoundaAon’sDynamic
CoupledNaturalandHumanSystemsProgram(#CNH-1113991),aWenner-GrenWorkshopGrant(Gr.
CONF-631),andaresearchgrantfromtheArizonaStateUniversityGraduateandProfessionalStudent
AssociaAon.Anyopinions,findings,andconclusionsexpressedinthismaterialarethoseoftheauthoranddo
notnecessarilyreflecttheviewsoftheNaAonalScienceFoundaAon.