Ceramics, Colonialism, and Household Practice at Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico, A.D. 1300-1900

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With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Barbara Mills and her colleagues will conduct one year of laboratory analyses to investigate the effects of European colonization at Zuni Pueblo. Zuni was the first Pueblo area reached during the Spanish entradas of the 16th century and is an excellent example of a Native American community lying on the frontier of colonialism. Like other Pueblo areas, population decline, settlement coalescence, religious repression, economic oppression, and the adoption of new foods and technologies all took place at Zuni while under Spanish, Mexican, and American governance. Although the Zuni area has enormous potential for looking at the processes of colonialism from an archaeological perspective, past work was conducted prior to modern systematic methods of excavations and analysis. A recent excavation project conducted by the Pueblo of Zuni has resulted in the first systematic collection of materials from one of the contact period Zuni Pueblos - Zuni Pueblo itself. Zuni Pueblo (Halona:wa) has been continuously occupied since the late 13th century and it provides a unique context to investigate the processes of colonialism in a Native American community. This project will support analyses of the large collection of ceramics, supplemental funding for botanical analyses, and travel for the faunal and botanical analysts to come to Arizona to participate in an advanced seminar on the project. Dr. Mills's research will include the analysis of ceramic assemblages from over six centuries of occupation at Zuni Pueblo, focusing on the following research objectives: (1) establishing a baseline chronology for the project; (2) investigating the timing and rate of change in Zuni diet and cuisine; (3) evaluating the impact of colonialism on the organization of household labor; and (4) exploring how Zuni identity was constructed and maintained through material culture. Intensive ceramic analyses will be conducted over one year, including analyses of production technology, changes in vessel forms, chemical analyses of food residues, and design analyses. The ceramic data will be compared to the results of pollen, macrobotanical, and faunal analyses for a comprehensive analysis of how diet and food preparation changed through time. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide the Zuni people with information about their past that is only accessible through archaeological research. It will also provide important insights into how cultures in contact interact, including changes in diet and cuisine, labor, and identity.