Colour and Directional Symbolism in Ancestral Pueblo Radial Offerings from Chaco Canyon

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Hannah V. Mattson
Keyword(s):  
American Southwest ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Chaco Canyon ◽  
Assemblage Theory ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Landscape Features ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Regional System ◽  
Roof Support

Dedicatory offerings of small colourful objects are often found in pre-Hispanic architectural contexts in the Ancestral Pueblo region of the American Southwest. These deposits are particularly numerous in the roof support pillars of circular ritual structures (kivas) at the site of Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, which served as the ceremonial hub of the Chacoan regional system between the tenth and twelfth centuries ce. Based on the importance of directionality and colour in traditional Pueblo worldviews, archaeologists speculate that the contents of these radial offerings may likewise reference significant Chacoan cosmographic elements. In this paper, I explore this idea by examining the distribution of colours and materials in kiva pilaster repositories in relation to directional quadrants, prominent landscape features, and raw material sources. I discuss the results in the context of Pueblo cosmology and assemblage theory, arguing that particular colours were polyvalent and relational, deriving their meanings from their positions within interacting and heterogenous assemblages.

The Organization of Turquoise Production and Consumption by the Prehistoric Chacoans

2001 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Joan Mathien
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Chaco Canyon ◽  
Southwestern United States ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Northern Mexico ◽  
Primary Function ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Regional System

For the prehistoric inhabitants of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico, turquoise was not an essential commodity for daily life. Yet, over 56,000 pieces of turquoise were recovered with two burials from Pueblo Bonito, the first site excavated in Chaco Canyon, and more turquoise is found in sites in Chaco Canyon when compared to other sites throughout the southwestern United States from ca. A.D. 900 through 1150. It may have been a long-distance trade item, exchanged for copper bells or macaws from further south, but its primary function was as a ritual item within the regional system. Because turquoise is found in sites established early in the Chaco sequence, this review will examine data from earlier periods to suggest which Bonito phase developments were innovations or continuations of previous practices. Some ritual uses of turquoise followed by contemporary Puebloan people probably have roots extending back into the Chaco era.

History and Process in Village Formation: Context and Contrasts from the Northern Southwest

2008 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine M. Cameron ◽  
Andrew I. Duff
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Chaco Canyon ◽  
San Juan ◽  
Regional Center ◽  
Regional System ◽  
Spanish Explorers ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
Enhanced Stability

Two processes characterize the later precontact history (twelfth-fourteenth centuries) of the northern part of the American Southwest: aggregation of people into large towns and depopulation of large regions. These processes have been explained as the result of environmental, economic, and social factors, including drought and warfare. Using a theoretical perspective based on Pauketat’s “historical processualism,” we argue that aggregation and depopulation are partly the result of historical developments surrounding the expansion and collapse of the Chaco regional system. We present our understanding of the Chaco regional system from the perspective of historical processualism; then, historical developments in the northern San Juan and Cibola regions-northern and southern frontiers of the Chaco world-are compared. The northern San Juan"s historically close ties with Chaco Canyon, the post-Chaco regional center at Aztec, and other factors ultimately resulted in the region’s depopulation. In the Cibola region, ties with Chaco were more tenuous and use of Chacoan ideology appears to have been strongest in the post-Chaco era, though no post-Chaco regional center emerged. Instead, large towns developed. Built on novel combinations of independent histories, ritual, and experience with Chaco, large towns enhanced stability. They were encountered by early Spanish explorers and some persist to the present day.

Calculation of the Glaze Recipe for Porcelain Feldspar Products Based on their Molecular Formula Rationalization

2008 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-134
Author(s):  
Ion Teoreanu ◽  
Roxana Lucia Dumitrache ◽  
Stefania Stoleriu
Keyword(s):  
Raw Materials ◽  
Computer Programs ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Molecular Formula ◽  
Design Equation ◽  
Material Sources

Any change of the raw material sources for glazes, economically, ecologically motivated, and also from the glaze quality point of view, is conditioned by the molecular formula rationalization and by the variation limits of the molecular formula, respectively. The proper glaze compositions are placed within their limit variation intervals with optimized processing and utilization properties. For this purpose, the rationalization criteria and procedures of molecular formulas are summarized in the present paper, as well as the results referring to their rationalization obtained in the authors� previous work. Thus, one starts from a base of raw materials that are selected, usable and also accessible for the design and producing of the glazes. On these bases the groundwork and the design equation for the glaze recipes are developed, exemplified for a single glaze. For an easy access to results, computer programs are used for an easy access to results.

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF PROTO-TEWA SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE: MAKING THE CASE FOR FLOODPLAIN FARMING IN THE OHKAY OWINGEH HOMELAND, NEW MEXICO

2017 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 397-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Sunday Eiselt ◽  
J. Andrew Darling ◽  
Samuel Duwe ◽  
Mark Willis ◽  
Chester Walker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Survey Methods ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Subsistence Agriculture ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Rio Chama ◽  
Land Farming ◽  
Scholarly Discourse

Previous research on agriculture in the American Southwest focuses overwhelmingly on archaeological survey methods to discern surface agricultural features, which, in combination with climatological, geological, and geographical variables, are used to create models about agricultural productivity in the past. However, with few exceptions, the role of floodplain irrigation and floodwater farming in ancestral Pueblo agriculture is generally downplayed in scholarly discourse. Using a variety of methods, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), satellite imagery, pedestrian survey, and supervised classification of remotely sensed imagery, we examine this issue through a consideration of how ancestral Ohkay Owingeh (Tewa) people solved the challenges of arid land farming in the lower Rio Chama watershed of New Mexico during the Classic period (A.D. 1350–1598). Based on acreage estimates, our results indicate that runoff and rainwater fields in terrace environments would have been insufficient to supply the nutritional needs of an ancestral Tewa population exceeding 10,000 individuals. Based on these observations, we present a case for the substantial role of subsistence agriculture in the floodplain of the Rio Chama and its associated tributaries.

Firing Temperatures and Raw Material Sources of Ancient Hittite Ceramics of Asia Minor

2009 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Akça ◽  
J. Arocena ◽  
G. Kelling ◽  
T. Nagano ◽  
P. Degryse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Raw Material ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Material Sources

scholarly journals Formulation Development and Performance Characterization of Ecological Dust Suppressant for Road Surfaces in Cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 10466
Author(s):  
Yuan Wang ◽  
Cuifeng Du ◽  
Mengmeng Cui
Keyword(s):  
Moisture Absorption ◽  
Environmentally Friendly ◽  
Road Dust ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Retention Performance ◽  
Formulation Development ◽  
Performance Characterization ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
Road Surfaces

In order to solve the problem of road dust pollution, an ecological dust suppressant for road surfaces has been developed using monomer, orthogonal, and optimization experiments and based on the dust raising mechanism. A humectant, hygroscopic agent, coagulant and surfactant and their concentration ranges have been determined through monomer experiment. The preliminary formula of the dust suppressant has been obtained through orthogonal experiment, with the water loss rate, moisture content rate, viscosity value, and surface tension value serving as experimental indexes. The optimal formula for the dust suppressor has been calculated through an optimization experiment, with the toxicity, moisture absorption and retention performance of plants, and the relative damage rate of plant seeds serving as experimental indexes. Based on the performance characterization of ecological road dust suppressant, the ecologically and environmentally friendly dust suppressant demonstrates fine moisture absorption and retention performance, good wind and rain erosion resistance, and no toxicity. The ecological road dust suppressant developed herein covers extensive raw material sources. It is ecologically and environmentally friendly, fit for most urban roads, and has a fine dust suppression effect. Meanwhile, it also can bring in good economic and social benefits, demonstrating its broad application prospects.

ICP-MS Isotopic Signatures of Lead Ceramic Glazes, Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico, 1315–1700

1996 ◽  
Vol 462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas E. Pingitore ◽  
David Hill ◽  
Joshua Villalobos ◽  
Jeff Leach ◽  
John A. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Rio Grande Valley ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Ancestral Pueblo ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
Isotopic Signatures ◽  
Icp Ms ◽  
Lead Source ◽  
Source Materials

ABSTRACTICP-MS isotopie analysis of lead ceramic glazes suggests at least two sources were exploited by Ancestral Pueblo potters to obtain the lead raw material, presumably galena (PbS). Five Rio Grande lead glazeware sherds from the Sandia area and two found at Socorro share a common isotopie fingerprint. The temper of one of the Socorro sherds confirms an origin in the Sandia area; petrography of the temper of the second sherd does not tie to any known Socorro source rock. Two other glazeware sherds from Socorro have a distinctly different lead isotopie signature. A fifth Socorro glaze may be a mixture of the Sandia and Socorro lead source materials. The differences in lead isotopie signature thus accord well with mineralogical differences in the ceramic pastes. Lead isotopie signatures generated by ICP-MS analysis are a powerful new tool for grouping glazeware sherds, classifying individual samples, defining lead sources, and delineating trade routes.

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