DOCTORAL DISSERTATION IMPROVEMENT GRANT: IDENTITY, RITUAL, AND EXCHANGE ALONG THE LOWER RIO PUERCO DRAINAGE NEW MEXICO

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Under the direction of Dr. Keith Kintigh, Ms Suzanne Eckert will collect data for her doctoral dissertation. She will analyze large series of ceramics recovered from two archaeological sites, Hummingbird Pueblo and Pottery Mound located in the lower Rio Puerco drainage of New Mexico. These large multi-room sites are typical of the late prehistoric period of the region and date to approximately 1150 to 1400 AD. Within the Southwest the centuries immediately before Spanish contact are characterized by population movements from multiple widely dispersed small sites into a more limited number of larger entities. This of necessity required the development of social mechanisms which integrated previously distinct social groups. In addition to such local aggregation, long distance migration which characterized early historic Southwest groups also occurred in prehistoric times and evidence indicates that people from well outside the local region also lived at both the Hummingbird Pueblo and Pottery Mound sites. Ms Eckert wishes to understand how integrating mechanisms developed, the extent to which distinctive social identities were retained and the degree and nature of ties beyond the local Rio Puerco region. She will also examine how these factors changed over timeTo address these questions, she will focus on the large well controlled ceramic material excavated at both sites. Because they reflect different aspects of social interaction she will: 1. analyze pottery designs and overt stylistic attributes; 2. examine the technology, such as paste manipulation, by which pottery is produced; 3. use petrographic analysis to identify and determine source location of raw materials to determine whether specific pottery types were imported or locally made; 4. reconstruct vessel size to provide insight into function. Ms Eckert has developed a model which, through the interplay of these variables, will allow her to examine such issues as retained ethnicity and trade and the potential importance of ritual feasting.This research is important for several reasons. It will increase understanding of the complex interactions which characterize social group formation and how these develop over time. It will provide important data of interest to many archaeologists about a relatively poorly known region of the Southwest and will also contribute to training a promising young scientist.