Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T23:34:17.103Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Kiln Firing Groups: Inter-Household Economic Collaboration and Social Organization in the Northern American Southwest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Wesley Bernardini
Wesley Bernardini*
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, 2933 Barlow Street, Madison, WI 53705
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent research on trench kilns from the Mesa Verde region of the northern American Southwest (Blinman and Swink 1997) suggests that trench kilns represent collaborative firings by groups of potters. This study presents a method for estimating the sizes of these proposed kiln firing groups. A comparative analysis between firing group sizes and the size of other contemporaneous social units provides insights into socioeconomic relationships between Mesa Verde households in both dispersed and aggregated settlement contexts. This study demonstrates that different stages of a production process may involve different production groups and highlights the utility of examining each production stage individually. It further suggests the importance of searching for archaeological evidence of production beyond residential areas to other production contexts, such as firing features, if the organization of all stages of production is to be understood.

Resumen

Resumen

Recientes investigaciones acerca de los homos defosas (trench kilns) en la región de Mesa Verde ubicada en el norte del Suroeste de los Estados Unidos (Blinman y Swink 1997) sugiere que estos hornos representan actividades colaborativas de cocción de la cerámica llevadas a cabo por varios grupos de artesanos. Este estudio presenta un método para calcular el de estos grupos de artesanos. El análisis comparativo entre tamaño de estos grupos y el de otras unidades sociales contemporáneas proporciona datos para entender las relaciones socio-económicas entre las unidades domésticas de Mesa Verde tanto en contextos de asentamientos dispersos como agregados. Este estudio demuestra que las diferentesfases de un proceso de producción pueden involucrara diferentes grupos de producción y enfatiza la utilidad de examinar cada fase de produccion individualmente. Este arttculo enfatiza también la importancia de buscar evidencias arqueológicas relacionadas con la produccion, tales como las estructuras usadas en la cocción de cerámica, en otros contextos fuera de las unidades residenciales si se quiere entender la organización de la producción.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 65 , Issue 2 , April 2000 , pp. 365 - 377
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Adler, M. A. 1990 Communities of Soil and Stone : An Archaeological Investigation of Population Aggregation Among the Mesa Verde Region Anasazi, A. D. 900-1300. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Adler, M. A. 1992 The Upland Survey. In The Sand Canyon Archaeological Project : A Progress Report,, edited by Lipe, W. D., pp. 11–24. Occasional Paper No. 2. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Adler, M. A. 1994 Population Aggregation and the Anasazi Social Landscape : A View from the Four Corners. In The Ancient Southwestern Community : Models and Methods for the Study of Prehistoric Social Organization, edited by Wills, W. H. and Leonard, R.D. pp. 85–101. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Adler, M. A. 1996 The Prehistoric Pueblo World, A.D. 1150-1350. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Allen, W. L., and Richardson, J. B. 1971 The Reconstruction of Kinship from Archaeological Data : The Concepts, The Methods, and the Feasibility. American Antiquity 36 : 41–53.Google Scholar
Arnold, D. 1998 Advantages and Disadvantages of Vertical-Half Molding Technology : Implications for Production Organization. In Pottery and People : A Dynamic Interaction, edited by Skibo, J. M and Feinman, G. M., pp. 59–80. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Bernardini, W. 1996 Transitions in Social Organization : A Predictive Model from Southwestern Colorado. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 15 : 372–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blinman, E., and Swink, Clint 1997 Technology and Organization of Anasazi Trench Kilns. In The Prehistory and History of Ceramic Kilns, edited by Rice, P. M., pp. 85–102. Ceramics and Civilization, Vol. VII. American Ceramic Society, Westerville, Ohio.Google Scholar
Brisbin, J. M. 1996 Mesa Verde Segment Pottery Firing Kilns. In Mesa Verde Waterline Replacement Project Phase III Archaeological and Historical Studies, by G. A.|Ives, Brisbin, J. M., Bell, J. A., and Williams, C. L.. Manuscript on file, Division of Research and Resource Management, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.Google Scholar
Cameron, C. 1991 Architectural Change at a Southwestern Pueblo. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona, Tucson. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Cattanach, G. S., Jr. 1980 Long House, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Publications in Archaeology No. 7H. USDI, National Park Service, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Collier, G. A. 1975 Fields of the Tzotzil. University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Dean, J. S. 1996 Kayenta Anasazi Settlement Transformations in Northeastern Arizona : A.D. 1150-1350. In The Prehistoric Pueblo World, A.D. 1150-1350, edited by Adler, M.A., pp. 29–47. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Ermigiotti, P. 1996 The Kiln Conference at Crow Canyon : A Summary Report. Manuscript on file at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Foster, G. M. 1965 The Sociology of Pottery : Questions and Hypotheses Arising From Contemporary Mexican Work. In Ceramics and Man, edited by Matson, F. R., pp. 43–61. Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology No. 41. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Fuller, S. L. 1984 Late Anasazi Pottery Kilns in the Yellow Jacket District, Southwestern Colorado. CASA Papers 4. Complete Archaeological Services Associates, Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Hegmon, M. 1991 The Risks of Sharing and Sharing as Risk Reduction : Interhousehold Food Sharing in Egalitarian Societies. In Between Bands and States, edited by Gregg, S. A., pp. 309–329. Occasional Paper No. 9. Center for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois.Google Scholar
Helm, C. 1973 The Kiln Site. In Highway U-95 Archeology : Comb Wash to Grand Flat, edited by Dalley, G. F., pp. 209–221. Department of Anthropology, University of Utah. Submitted to Utah State Department of Highways.Google Scholar
Kohler, T. A., and Blinman, E. 1987 Solving Mixture Problems in Archaeology : Analysis of Ceramic Materials for Dating and Demographic Reconstruction. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 6 : 1–28.Google Scholar
Leach, B. 1976 A Potter's Book. Faber and Faber, London.Google Scholar
Lightfoot, R. 1994 The Duckfoot Site, Volume 2 : Archaeology of House and Household. Occasional Paper No. 4. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Lipe, WD. 1989 Social Scale of Mesa Verde Anasazi Kivas. In The Architecture of Social Integration in Prehistoric Pueblos, edited by Lipe, W. D. and Hegmon, M., pp. 53–72. Occasional Paper No. 1. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Longacre, W. A. (editor) 1991 Ceramic Ethnoarchaeology. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Mills, B. 1989 Ceramics and Settlement in the Cedar Mesa Area, Southeastern Utah : A Methodological Approach. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Ortman, S. and Wilshusen, R. 1996 Letter Report of Salvage-Based Research By Crow Canyon Archaeological Center at Hedley Ruins (42SA22760), San Juan County, Utah, with Recommendations for Site Management and Protection. Submitted to The Archaeological Conservancy and the Utah State Archaeologist, and on file at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Pierce, C. 1996 Why Corrugated? A Functional and Historical Analysis of the Change from Smooth to Corrugated Cooking Pots in the American Southwest. Paper presented at the 61s Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Pierce, C., Varien, M.D., Driver, J., Gross, T., and Keleher, J. 1999 Chapter 15, Artifacts. In The Sand Canyon Archaeological Project : Site Testing, edited by Varien, M. D., CD-ROM available from the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Post, S. S. and Lakatos, S. A. 1995 Santa Fe Black on White Pottery Firing Features of the Northern Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico. In Of Pots and Rocks : Papers in Honor ofHelene Warren, edited by Duran, M. S. and Kirkpatrick, D.T. pp.141–153. Paper No. 21. Archaeological Society of New Mexico, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Prudden, T. M. 1903 The Prehistoric Ruins of the San Juan Watershed in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. American Anthropologist 5 : 224–288.Google Scholar
Purcell, D. E. 1993 Pottery Kilns of the Northern San Juan Anasazi Tradition. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
Rice, P. 1987 Pottery Analysis : A Sourcebook. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Rohn, A.H. 1965 Postulation of Socio-Economic Groups from Archaeological Evidence. In Contributions of the Wetherill Mesa Archaeological Project, assembled by D. Osborne, pp. 65–69. Memoir No. 19. Society for American Archaeology, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Rohn, A.H. 1971 Mug House, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. Archaeological Research Series 7D. National Park Service, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Rohn, A.H. 1994 The Residence Unit in Anasazi and Pueblo History. In Proceedings of the Anasazi Symposium, compiled by Smith, J. E., pp. 247–256. Mesa Verde Museum Association, Mesa Verde, Colorado.Google Scholar
Rye, O. S. 1981 Pottery Technology : Principles and Reconstruction. Manuals on Archeology 4. Taraxacum, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Rye, 0. S., and Evans, C. 1976 Traditional Pottery Techniques of Pakistan : Field and Laboratory Studies. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology No. 21. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Steward, J. H. 1937 Ecological Aspects of Southwestern Society. Anthropos 32 : 87–104.Google Scholar
Swink, C. 1995 Trash or Tools? A Kiln Master's Opinion of Five Late PHI Kiln Ceramic Assemblages. Paper presented at the Fifth Annual Kiln Conference, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Cortez, Colorado.Google Scholar
Titiev, M. 1944 Old Oraibi. Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology No. 22(1). Harvard University, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Varien, M. D. 1999 Sedentism and Mobility in a Social Landscape : Mesa Verde and Beyond. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Wilson, C. D., and Blinman, E. 1995 Changing Specialization of White Ware Manufacture in the Northern San Juan Region. In Ceramic Production in the American Southwest, edited by Mills, B. and Crown, P., pp. 63–87. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.Google Scholar
Wright, R. P. 1991 Women's Labor and Pottery Production in Prehistory. In Engendering Archaeology : Women and Prehistory, edited by Gero, J. M. and Conkey, M.W. pp. 194–223. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.Google Scholar