David V. Hill

Clay, Conflict, and Village Aggregation: Compositional Analyses of Pre-Classic Pottery from Taos, New México

As was the case throughout much of north-central New Mexico, the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries marked a period of rapid settlement pattern change in the Taos District as dispersed pithouse and small pueblo hamlets were replaced by tightly clustered pueblos and ultimately by the emergence of large aggregated villages. Here we consider the effects of this transition on the manner in which local potters procured raw clay for the production of black-on-white ceramics. Adopting the Rio Grande del Rancho drainage as our study area, we first outline the major clay sources within the drainage. We then report on neutron activation and petrographic analyses of both modern clays as well as archaeological ceramics from sites that span the settlement transition in question. These analyses suggest that settlement aggregation was accompanied by a noticeable reduction in the diversity and quality of clay sources used by local potters, most likely as a result of newly restricted procurement strategies associated with the formation of buffer zones between village aggregates. The paper concludes with a consideration of the implications of this trend with respect to the economic situation of early large villages in the area.

The transformation of phytolith morphology as the result of their exposure to high temperature

Phytoliths are an important component for interpreting the ancient botanical record. However, phytoliths can be altered through heating, either as the result of such activities as firing ceramics, clay molds use for casting metal or in hearths. Phytoliths can also be altered through heating as the result of creating comparative sample from living plants. By heating phytoliths at graduated intervals it was found that different types of phytoliths lost their diagnostic morphological characteristics at significantly different temperatures. The phytoliths used in this study are derived from economically important plants to Chinese archaeology and culture. Given the consistent results of the alteration of different type of phytoliths at specific temperatures it should eventually be possible to use phytolith alterations as a proxy measure of the original firing temperature of ancient objects and features. Microsc. Res. Tech. 2012.

Comparing dry ashing and wet oxidation methods. The case of the rice husk (Oryza sativa L.)

Experiments were conducted to determine the effects that different methods for the preparation of modern plant samples have on the resulting phytoliths using rice husks (Oryza sp.). The methods that are commonly used in phytolith extraction include (1) dry ashing, (2) acid extraction (3) a combination of both techniques. The results showed that processing methods have an impact on the morphology of two subspecies of rice phytoliths, dry ashing producing more conjoined cell phytoliths or multicells phytoliths than acid extraction. Using a combination of both methods resulted in the presence of fewer conjoined cells than dry ashing alone, but more conjoined cells than acid extraction. Alternative explanations are proposed to explain the formation of conjoined phytolith cells. Microsc. Res. Tech. 75:1272–1276, 2012.

Following A Glittering Trail: Geo-Chemical and Petrographic Characterization of Micaceous Sherds Recovered from Dismal River Sites

Abstract Protohistoric Ancestral Apache Dismal River groups (A.D. 1600–1750) participated in large exchange networks linking them to other peoples on the Plains and U.S. Southwest. Ceramic vessels made from micaceous materials appear at many Dismal River sites, and micaceous pottery recovered from the Central High Plains is typically seen as evidence for interaction with northern Rio Grande pueblos. However, few mineral or chemical characterization analyses have been conducted on these ceramics, and the term “micaceous” has been applied to a broad range of vessel types regardless of the form, size, or amount of mica in their pastes. Our recent analyses, including macroscopic evaluation combined with petrography and neutron activation analyses (NAA), indicate that only a small subset of Dismal River sherds are derived from New Mexico clays. The rest were likely manufactured using materials from Colorado and Wyoming. Seasonal mobility patterns may have given Dismal River potters the opportunity to collect mica raw materials as they traveled between the Central Plains and Front Range, and this has implications for the importance of internal Plains social networks during the Protohistoric and Historic periods.

Characterization of silica distribution in rice husk using Synchrotron Radiation µCT and its implications for archaeological interpretation

This article reports the results of a pilot project using Synchrotron Radiation µCT (computer‐aided tomography) to examine the distribution of silica within phytoliths from rice husks. Experiments indicate that computed tomography can be used to show how silica accumulates and is distributed in a distinctive zigzag pattern of long epidermal cells that are characteristic of phytoliths from rice husks. This method will help us to understand why the dry ashing method produced much more zigzag pattern of long cells phytoliths from rice husk than did the acid extraction method. Besides, the zigzag morphological pattern exhibited by long epidermal cells is characteristic of this species which makes it useful in the identification of rice husks from archaeological contexts and indicating heating process. Microsc. Res. Tech. 77:785–789, 2014.

New evidence for rice cultivation from the Early Neolithic Hehuashan site

Phytolith analysis was conducted on soil samples from an archeological profile at the Hehuashan site, located in the upper Qiantang River region, China. This paper focuses on: (1) changes on the morphometric features of Oryza-type bulliform phytoliths from the rice leaves of the Early Neolithic Hehuashan site, (2) human adaptations during the Early Holocene, and (3) the cultivation of rice by Early Neolithic occupants in the upper Qiantang River region. The phytolith assemblage before and during the Early Neolithic Shangshan Culture occupation of the Hehuashan site indicates a landscape composed of reeds (Phragmites australis), rice (Oryza sp.), Bambusoideae, and some woody plants. The amount of Oryza-type bulliform phytoliths and the number of scale-like decorations present along their margins increased from the lowest to the uppermost deposits at the site. The change in the amount and morphology of bulliform phytoliths indicates the presence of wild rice around the site at the time of human occupation, which provides evidence of a shift from the collection and possible manipulation of wild rice to cultivation during the Shangshan Culture period (11400–8600 BP).

Raven's Nest (48SU3871): A late prehistoric/Shoshone lithic tool and pottery-making site in Southwestern Wyoming

Early Archaic to Historic occupations were unearthed during excavations at the Ravens Nest (48SU3871). Excavation of 135 1 × 1 m units in 15 discrete areas within Ravens Nest resulted in the recovery of over 21,000 pieces of debitage, over 9000 faunal specimens, over 1100 prehistoric sherds and over 300 tools, including ca. 50 projectile points with the primary occupations occurring during the Late Prehistoric and Early Historic Periods. The Ravens Nest site likely functioned as a locality where stone tools and ceramics were produced by Numic-speaking peoples most likely the Shoshone. The predominance of three types of locally available tool stone in the lithic assemblage and their presence as raw material, flakes and finished tools indicates are indicative of stone tool production. On-site pottery-making activities at the Ravens Nest were identified by the large ceramic assemblage recovered from the site, the paste of the majority of the ceramics contain the same minerals that are present in the local clays and outcrops as determined through petrographic analysis, the presence of kiln wasters, and the recovery of a vessel form made using local clay that is not documented in ethnographies of the Shoshone.

Olive Jar Ceramics from the Eagle Ridge Site (25sy116) in Eastern Nebraska: Booty from the Villasur Expedition?

The battle between the Spanish and French and their native allies figured on the Segesser hide paintings contributed to ending the eastward expansion of Spanish exploration in North America. While the battle that took place somewhere near the confluence of the Loup and Platte Rivers on August 14, 1720 is illustrated on contemporary buffalo hide paintings and described in contemporary documents there has been no physical evidence precisely where the confrontation took place nor have any objects associated with the fight have ever been discovered. The 1996 excavation of the Eagle Ridge site (ca. 1700–1750) in eastern Nebraska recovered ceramics from one or more olive jars of Spanish origin. These ceramics likely represent booty from the 1720 conflict.

Petrographic analysis of Contact Period Native American pottery from Fort Hill (27CH85), Hinsdale, NH, USA

We present results of petrographic analysis of a sample of pottery from Fort Hill, a fortified village in southwestern New Hampshire built and occupied by a group of Native Americans between Autumn of 1663 and Spring of 1664. Our analyses reveal a surprising degree of variability in ceramic fabrics and in ceramic production techniques relative to that reported for contemporaneous and slightly earlier assemblages from southern and central New England. We explain the presence of this variability as likely reflecting the amalgamation of multiple ceramic traditions that would result from the presence of refugees within the community occupying Fort Hill.