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Research

Research

Research

Summary

Under the supervision of Dr. David R. Abbott, Sophia Kelly will analyze pottery provenance data gathered in her study of Hohokam ceramics in the Phoenix Basin, Arizona. The data will be used to examine the social and economic factors that contributed to widespread demand for specialized pottery production in this region during prehistory. The research has significance for several reasons. It provides insight into the mechanisms which facilitate effective societal functioning at a traditional level of development. It also provides insight into an important achievement in prehistoric America.

The prehistoric Hohokam economy provides an ideal case to evaluate the conditions associated with intensive pottery manufacture, because it was characterized by the widespread distribution of ceramic vessels fashioned by a relatively small number of people. For over 600 years, Hohokam households relied almost entirely on specialists to supply them with the pottery that they used to cook, serve, and store food. By the mid eleventh century AD, pottery producers in one geographic area manufactured almost all of the decorated containers used by more than 20,000 people across this vast region. This type of large and complex economy, which is typically associated with state-level societies, developed in the absence of clear political hierarchies.

Ms. Kelly's study builds a model that evaluates the role of four factors in the development of demand for specialist produced red-on-buff pottery in Hohokam settlements. The factors include 1) agricultural intensification in the form of irrigation agriculture, 2) increases in population density, 3) ritual or social obligations that require the production of particular craft items, and 4) improved efficiency of regional distribution systems. Demand for pottery produced by specialists is estimated through a ceramic sourcing analysis that determines the volume and concentration of non-local pottery at 14 Phoenix Basin settlements. The data generated from this project allow for a detailed reconstruction of the conditions that affect the organization of craft production over time and provide the basis to model these changes with unprecedented precision.

This dissertation project is of value to researchers studying ancient economies, as well as to the contemporary ancestors of the Hohokam, the Akimel and Tohono O'odham. In order to extend the broader impact of her study, Kelly collaborated with the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) to incorporate the tribes research interests in her project design. Mounting archaeological evidence that prehistoric Hohokam ceramic production and exchange were part of a complex, specialist economy is a source of interest and pride for present-day O'odham communities. This study is a timely complement to recent investment in tribal museums, educational programs on cultural resources on the reservation, and the establishment of a local Tribal Historic Preservation Office. In addition, the project involves the training of several GRIC staff members during the data collection process and a portion of the results will be co-authored with GRIC archaeologists. The data collected in this study will be made available through GRIC research databases, and interpretation of the results will be disseminated to the community through reports, presentations, and contributions to the local tribal museum (Huhugam Heritage Center). The databases from this project will be filed with the Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR). The research results will also be disseminated through presentations at national meetings and through publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Funding

National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant

Timeline

June 2011 — May 2013