Mobility and ceramic paste choice: Petrographic analysis of prehistoric pottery from northeastern Colorado

Abstract

Pre-contact Native American sites in northeastern Colorado typically yield only a few sherds per site (if present), thus little information is known regarding ceramic manufacture by highly mobile groups in this area. Over the past fifty years, systematic archaeological research in Larimer County has generated a large sample of pottery for detailed study. Petrographic analysis of forty samples from ten sites on the low hills of the Front Range indicates a preference for non-local granitic raw materials. Group mobility clearly played a role in where pottery was made (western foothills) as opposed to where it is used (Colorado Piedmont). There are slight differences in paste and temper from the Early Ceramic (AD 150–1150) to the Late Ceramic periods (AD 1540–1860) that could reflect varying approaches to ceramic production as related to preferred source materials. The results suggest the pottery was made on a limited scale and likely for cooking.

KEYWORDS:

• Early
• Middle
• and Late Ceramic
• Great Plains
• Colorado
• petrography
• mobility
• ceramic paste choice

Acknowledgments

The James and Audrey Benedict Endowment for Mountain Archaeology provided funding for this project. Catherine Gilman of Desert Archaeology, Inc., Kelton Meyer of the Center for Mountain and Plains Archaeology, and the authors drafted the project maps. Thank you to the Roberts Ranch and the Phantom Canyon Ranch for providing access for collecting sand and clay samples from the project area. This project would not have been possible without the efforts of CSU student archaeologists and faculty, who diligently recorded and collected these sites over the past 50 years; in particular, we would like to thank Kelton Meyer, Ben Perlmutter, Chris Johnston, and Suzanne McKetta for their contributions to this project. The Archaeological Repository of Colorado State University provided access to the ceramic collections analyzed in this project. We give much thanks to Dr. Hoard (editor of Plains Anthropologist) and our three reviewers for helping clarify and strengthen the arguments we made in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/00320447.2021.1919956.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The James and Audrey Benedict Endowment for Mountain Archaeology at Colorado State University provided funding for this project. Catherine Gilman of Desert Archaeology, Inc., Kelton Meyer of the Center for Mountain and Plains Archaeology, and the authors drafted the project maps.

Notes on contributors

Mary F. Ownby

Mary F. Ownby received her PhD in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge (UK) in 2010 with a research focus on scientific analysis of ceramics. She completed a MSc in Technology and Analysis of Archaeological Materials from University College London and a MA in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She has a BA in Anthropology from the University of Arizona. Her research utilizes petrographic and instrumental analysis of pottery (and other material types) to examine interregional contacts, technological choice, and ceramic ecology. Studies have been conducted throughout the US Southwest and in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, and Cyprus. Dr. Ownby has been an Associate Researcher at the University of Arizona and the Research Petrographer at Desert Archaeology, Inc. since 2010.

Jason M. LaBelle

Jason M. LaBelle is an associate professor of Anthropology at Colorado State University, where he directs the Center for Mountain and Plains Archaeology. He received his MA and PhD degrees in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University and his BA degree from Colorado State University. Over the past 25 years, he supervised field and lab projects related to hunter-gatherer reoccupation, variation in thermal features, Paleoindian camps, high altitude game drives, Fremont granaries, and lithic caches throughout the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Recent research involved excavation of the Fossil Creek site, investigating shifts in subsistence and mobility practices during the Early Ceramic era of northern Colorado.

Halston Pelton

Halston Pelton received her BA and MA in Anthropology from Colorado State University in 2013 and 2017 respectively, studying stone circle sites in northern Colorado for her Master’s thesis. Halston is currently employed as the Assistant North Zone Archaeologist on the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests and Thunder Basin National Grassland where she is actively involved in archaeological research, project planning, GIS mapping, and wildland firefighter support. Her research interests include geospatial analyses, hunter-gatherer cooperation, and the prehistoric inhabitants of the Rocky Mountain region.