UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
GRADUATE COLLEGE
OXIDIZED MIMBRES BOWLS: AN EXAMPLE OF TECHNOLOGICAL STYLE
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Degree of
MASTERS OF ARTS
By
ALISON K. LIVESAY Norman, Oklahoma
2013
OXIDIZED MIMBRES BOWLS: AN EXAMPLE OF TECHNOLOGICAL STYLE
A THESIS APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY
BY
__________________________ Dr. Patricia A. Gilman, Chair
__________________________ Dr. Paul E. Minnis
__________________________ Dr. Patrick Livingood
©Copyright by ALISON LIVESAY 2013
All Rights Reserved.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………………...............vi List of Tables…………………..………………………………………………………………………………..ix Acknowledgments………………………………..…………………………………………………………...x
Chapter 1: Oxidized Black-on-White Bowls in the Mimbres Region…....................1
The Presence of Color Variation on Mimbres Bowls………………..………………3 Previous Conceptions Concerning Oxidized Bowls……………………..……………4 The Oxidization of Mimbres Vessels: Expectations for Intentionality or Mistakes…………………………………………………………………………………………….6 Technology of Mimbres Ceramic Production…………………….…………….………7
Summary …………………………………………………………………………………………..…12
Chapter 2: Theoretically Framing Intentionality in Archaeology and Mimbres Pottery Production………………………………………………...............................13
Agency is Integral …………………………………………………………………………………13 Placing Intentionality into Mimbres History……………………….....................15 The Social and Symbolic Structure of Mimbres Pottery………………..……….17 Social Contexts…………………….……………………………………………………18 Design Tradition………………..………………………………………………………19 Iconography………………………………………………………………………………21 Vessel Form and Mortuary Patterns………………………………………….22
Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………….23
Chapter 3: Methods for Creating the Dataset, Analyzing Color, and Evaluating Expectations……………………………………………………………..…………………….25 Creating the Dataset…………………………….……………………………………………….25
Analyzing Color……………………………………………………………………………………..27 Variables Useful for the Examination of Intentionality…………………..........29 The Range of Variation within Each Recorded Variable…………………………30
Mimbres Temporal Style……………………………………………………………30 Mimbres Black-on-white Design Classes……………………………………31 Use wear, Kill Holes, and Archaeological Contexts…....................31
Statistical Testing Methods and Software……………………………………………..32 Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………….33
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Chapter 4: Statistical and Geographic Comparisons across Space and Time and between Oxidized and Reduced Firing Styles ……………………………………………………35
Differences between Oxidized and Reduced Painted Pottery…..…..……….36 Height and Rim Diameter of Bowls………………….………..………………36
Design Layouts………………….……………………………………………………….38 Use wear………………………………………………….……………………………….41 Design Class……………………………………………………………………………….44 Burial and Non-burial Contexts………………………………………..………..45
Age of Individual and Oxidized and Reduced Vessels……..………….46 Differences Between Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels…………………………….48 Height and Rim Diameter of Bowls…………………………………………….49 Design Layouts…………………………………………………………………………..51 Use wear…………………………………………………………………………………..53 Design Class……………………………………………………………………………….54 Burial and Non-burial Contexts………………………………………………….55 Age of Individual………………………………………………………………………..56 Summary of Statistical Analysis…………………………………………………….……….58
Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Oxidized Vessels from Five Sites………………………………………………………………………………………………………59 NAN Ranch Site………………………………………………………………………….61 Mattocks Site…………………………………………………………………..………..67 Swarts Site…………………………………………………………………………………70 Cameron Creek Site…………………………………………………………………..75 Galaz Site…………………………………………………………………………………..79 Summary and Implications of the Differences among Assemblages, Sites and Time Periods………………………………………………………………………….85
Chapter 5: Color Symbolism and its Relationship to Esoteric Knowledge………….88 Unequal Access to Ritual…………………….....................................................92
Mesoamerica and the Ritual Efficacy of the “Outside”…………………….......94 Summary……………………………………………………………………………………………….96
Chapter 6: Oxidized Vessels and Intentionality …………………………………………………98 Important Implications Concerning Intentionality………………………………….103 Future Research…………………………………………………………………………………......104 Importance of this Research……………………………………………………………………107
References Cited……………………………………………………………………………………………109
Appendix 1: Data Set by Site………………………………………………..…………………………115 Appendix 2: Chi-Square Contingency Tables……………………………………………122
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LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 1.1. MA2678 from Swarts demonstrating a vessel exhibiting a half-oxidized half-reduced design effect (Cosgrove and Cosgrove 1932)..................….4 Figure 1.2. Two contrasting views of what constitutes oxidized firing mistakes...6 Figure 2.1. Various layouts of Mimbres designs originally identified by Brody (1977) (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:324)…………….…….…………………………………………20 Figure 2.2. Burial with bowl inverted over cranium and “killed” (Shafer 1995)…23 Figure 3.1. Sites included in this study………………………………………………………….....27 Figure 3.2. Left clearly oxidized compared with right which is questionable (Anyon and LeBlanc1984)…………………………………………………….……………………….....28 Figure 4.1. Scatterplot with mean diamonds showing differences in vessel height between oxidized and reduced vessels. ……………………………………………………........37 Figure 4.2. . Scatterplot with mean diamonds showing differences in vessel rim diameter between oxidized and reduced vessels. …..……………………………………….38 Figure 4.3. The design layouts of the oxidized and reduced assemblages………. 40 Figure 4.4. The proportions of layouts in the oxidized and reduced assemblages …………………………………………………………………………………….………………41 Figure 4.5. The proportions of use wear in the oxidized and reduced assemblages………………………………………..……………………………………………………………42 Figure 4.6. The percentages of use wear in the oxidized and reduced assemblages. …………………………………………………………………………………………………..43 Figure 4.7. The proportions of design classes in the oxidized and reduced assemblages …………………………………………………………………………………….………………44 Figure 4.8. The proportion of vessel contexts in the oxidized and reduced assemblages …………………………………………………………………………………..………………..46
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Figure 4.9. The age differences of individuals associated with oxidized and reduced vessels.……………………………………………………………………………………………….47 Figure 4.10. The frequency of skeletal ages associated with oxidized and reduced vessels.…………………………………………………………………………………………48 Figure 4.11. Scatterplot with mean diamonds showing differences in vessel height between full and half-oxidized vessels…………..……………………………………...49 Figure 4.12. Scatterplot with mean diamonds showing differences in vessel rim diameter between fully and half-oxidized vessels…………………………………….………50 Figure 4.13. The proportions of layouts in the fully and half-oxidized assemblages…………………………………………………………………………………………………….52 Figure 4.14. Bar graph showing the differences in design layout between fully and half-oxidized vessels………..…………………………………………………………………………53 Figure 4.15. The proportions of use wear in the fully and half-oxidized assemblages……………………………………………………………………………………………………54 Figure 4.16. The proportions of design class in the fully and half-oxidized assemblages……………………………………………………………………………………………………55 Figure 4.17. The proportions of archaeological contexts in the fully and half-oxidized assemblages……………………………………………………………………………………..56 Figure 4.18. The proportions of ages of associated individuals in the fully and half-oxidized assemblage………………………………………………………………………………..57 Figure 4.19. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the NAN Ranch site ……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……….....63 Figure 4.20. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the Mattocks site ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….70 Figure 4.21. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the Swarts site …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..74 Figure 4.22. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the Cameron Creek site.…………………………………………………………………………………………………………78 Figure 4.23. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the Galaz site ………………………………………………………………………………………………….…...............84
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Figure 5.1. The Mimbres Valley in relation to the natural habitat of macaws and parrots……………………………………………………………………..………………….95
ix
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 4.1. Numbers and totals of oxidized vessels for each site………………………..62
Table 4.2. Numbers of oxidized bowls in each of their contexts……………………….67
Table 4.3. Numbers of oxidized vessels for each temporal style………………………67
1
Chapter 1
Oxidized Black-on-white Bowls in the Mimbres Region
Sometimes the way in which an object is produced can be just as
important as the object itself, because the manner in which it is made can
provide insight into the social and ideological contexts of its maker.
Archaeologists working in the Mimbres region of the North American Southwest
have encountered extraordinary interiorly painted black-on-white hemispheric
bowls that not only boast fine abstract geometric designs but also naturalistic
anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images. Researchers have conducted much
archaeological fieldwork and research since the original interest in Mimbres sites
and in Mimbres ceramics in particular, but there exists a strange oversight of
Mimbres oxidized black-on-white bowls. These bowls have a distinctive red
color due to bonded iron oxides in the paint. I suggest that these vessels were
intentionally and uniformly produced in a distinctive technological style that
expresses some symbolic or social information, and that they should not be
viewed as “over-fired” vessels or mistakes.
To investigate the level of intentionality Mimbres potters placed on the
productions of oxidized vessels, it would be pertinent to compare the general
form, design structure, and the depositional contexts of vessels fired in both
oxidized and reduced environments, and numbers of oxidized vessels
throughout time. If there are significant differences between the assemblages,
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then vessels fired in an oxidizing environment may have belonged to a separate
technological production style. Technological style refers to the process by
which an object is made, a process that may not be wholly apparent in the
object’s appearance, and which can include both building and firing pots
(Hegmon 2000:218). If patterns exist among the assemblages, sites or time
periods, they might indicate that oxidized technological production was of equal
importance and meaning to the reduced technological production in ancient
Mimbres society. In this paper I will discuss the social and ideological setting of
their makers, technological style, and how these oxidized bowls may have
functioned or been intended to function within Mimbres society.
My overall objective is to elucidate whether Mimbres potters were
purposefully oxidizing some of their painted bowls, and if they were, to propose
some plausible reasons for their manufacture. If potters intentionally oxidized
their painted bowls, the next logical step is to ask why and for what purposes
they oxidized the paint and conducted the extra firing steps in the process. By
looking at how Mimbres people used these bowls, in what contexts they were
purposefully deposited, and how social contextual situations might have affected
how they were made, we can begin to infer why they produced these visually
distinctive red painted bowls in such great numbers. I will argue that Mimbres
potters were indeed intentionally firing some of their vessels in oxygen rich
environments. I will demonstrate this point through an examination of the
increased time and decision-making that Mimbres potters exercised in
3
manufacturing oxidized pottery and obtaining the rest of the communities’
approval of the finished product. If I am correct in this assertion, I would expect
to see oxidized vessels in the same contexts and proportions as reduced vessels,
as well as distinctive patterns in the number of oxidized vessels across time and
space.
The red color and its specific placement on the vessel may demonstrate
the symbolic function of these vessels as visual metaphors of the Mesoamerican
inspired ideology and religion that was infiltrating and influencing the members
of Mimbres communities at this time. It is my contention that a symbolic
reference to this ideology through color or the oppositional pairing of colors
(black and red on some vessels) could have been an avenue for ceramicists to
communicate and achieve an improved status as holders of esoteric knowledge.
The Presence of Color Variation on Mimbres Bowls
Classic Mimbres (A.D. 1000-1130) Black-on-white bowls fired in oxygen-
rich or oxidizing environments are distinguishable from their reduced
counterparts because the black paint oxidizes and turns an often vibrant red
color. From my research, two types of oxidized bowls can be identified: on the
first, the paint is completely oxidized, and on the other only half of the paint on
the bowl is oxidized and half is reduced, producing a half-red-half-black effect
(Figure 1.1). There are other variations of color such as rusty brown, but they
are not included in this present study because they are most likely examples of
incomplete firing. Incomplete firing, or a firing error, occurs when the potter is
4
unable to control the draft, the maximum temperature, or the irregularities in
fuel combustion (Rice 1987:109). Analysists could consider vessels whose
painted rims and motifs are not oxidized or colored in equal amounts, to be
unintentional effects of the firing procedure. Equally, if it is clear where a draft
of air came into the firing atmosphere and skipped along the painted design on a
bowl’s surface, then this too can indicate a poorly controlled firing event, that is,
a firing mistake. Thus, while red coloring can be indicative of a firing error it
does not necessitate one; color variation can come from many sources.
Figure 1.1. Bowl (MA2678) from the Swarts site with a half-oxidized half-reduced painted design (Cosgove and Cosgrove 1932:72).
Previous Conceptions Concerning Oxidized Bowls
My hypothesis concerning the intentional creation of red designs on
Mimbres bowls and that the oxidized firing atmosphere is an example of
5
technological style stands in stark contrast to previous scholarly conceptions of
Mimbres black-on-white bowls that exhibit a red color. With the single
exception of Shafer (2009:177), all other Mimbres archaeologists have either not
broached the subject concerning these red bowls and instead lump them with
their black-on-white counterparts or consider them to simply be “mistakes.”
Cosgrove and Cosgrove (1932:72) believed the red oxidized bowls are nothing
more than “overfired” vessels. Figure 1.2 contrasts my perception of firing
mistakes, which includes only the image on the right with other Mimbres
archaeologists’ perception of firing mistakes, which includes both figures. With
In the figure on the right, one can see how a draft of air skipped across the
painted surface of the bowl, making some parts of the design red. One can also
observe that this effect is absent on the vessel to the left, and that the entire
painted design is oxidized. This demonstrates control over the firing procedure.
Much headway has been made since the Cosgroves’ time in
understanding pottery technology, but yet oxidized vessels have never really
been examined, and the theory that they were “overfired” has never been
tested. I think this oversight has created a gap in our knowledge and does not
give adequate attention to just how rich in social meaning the use of colors
might be. This gap can only be remedied with a discussion concerning
intentionality, skill, agency within structure, gender, the materialization of
ideology, and the display of esoteric knowledge.
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The Oxidization of Mimbres Vessels: Expectations for Intentionality or Mistakes
If indeed the oxidized painted bowls are unintentional “mistakes” due to
the inability to control the firing atmosphere and were viewed as such by the
potters and the society in which they were created, then I have the following
expectations. My first expectation is that while mistakes are entirely possible
and to be expected, the proportion of these mistakes on all painted vessels
would remain roughly constant through time or at the very least would not
increase dramatically. That is, taking into account the amounts of pottery
produced during Mimbres occupation, the numbers of accidents would be about
the same for each experienced adult potter. I would also expect that mistakes
would not be robustly patterned in their frequencies and would occur fairly
equally across archaeological sites and time periods.
Figure 1.2. Vessels demonstrating contrasting view of oxidized mistakes (MA).
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I would also expect that if the community to which individual potters
belonged viewed the oxidized red or half-black-half-red bowls as “mistakes,”
then oxidized bowls would not be found in highly symbolic or important contexts
and would instead be used in strictly utilitarian contexts and discarded, and
would demonstrate more evidence of wear if they had less socially important
meaning. I will test these assumptions later in Chapter 4 with data I collected
and analyzed to show intentionality on the part of the potters.
Technology of Mimbres Ceramic Production
Necessary to any argument concerning intentionality is a discussion of
the technological variables that necessitate a complex set of skills underlying
forming and firing events in which one has a specific end effect in mind. An
examination of how the intended or unintended firing atmosphere affects
several properties of the finished vessel including color, porosity, and shrinkage
(Rice 1987:81) is needed so that I can illustrate that Mimbres potters must have
intentionally developed and maintained special skills to make oxidized red
designs on bowls.
Like most puebloan vessels in the Southwest, Mimbres bowls were
produced in open-air firing events. Open-air firings require greater vigilance and
control on the part of the maker, because unlike kiln firings, the air flow and
temperature are much harder to control, as the heat has a greater number of
places to escape, and drafts have more avenues in from the outside (Rice
1986:110). Rice (1987:109) also states that “not only are the time and
8
temperature of bonfire firings poorly controlled, but so is the atmosphere” or
the amount of oxygen flow, and “variations of the atmosphere may be expected
as fresh fuel is added and consumed, and wind gusts touch the fire, resulting in
incomplete oxidation or reduction.” Careful selection of fuel, such as juniper,
corn cobs, and hardwoods, all of which were available to Mimbres potters,
would have allowed for greater control over the rate of temperature increase in
both the heating and cooling processes and would have reduced the risk of
thermal shock. This would have been necessary if one were targeting a specific
form of firing atmosphere.
This discussion of technological variables and constraints is included to
demonstrate that Mimbres potters, who made and fired the vessels, must have
had adequate knowledge and skill for firing vessels and skill, or otherwise they
would not have been able to produce over 10,000 black-on-white vessels in both
firing styles in approximately 300 years. Thus, it would seem unlikely that their
skill level would fluctuate enough to present observable patterns in the
frequency of oxidized vessels over time, unless they were intentionally creating
the oxidized vessels.
Half-oxidized and half-reduced vessels probably represent the best
evidence for intentional control over the firing atmosphere, and an examination
of ethnographic accounts is essential to enlighten us as to how Mimbres potters
were achieving full and half-oxidized effects on their vessels and how we can
demonstrate these techniques archaeologically. Many ethnographic accounts
9
note potters who produce fully oxidized vessels by “uncovering and exposing
their open-air fired pottery to brisk breezes in order to cool only minutes after
the flames die down” (Rice 1987:109). Interestingly, the same effect could be
produced by removing the vessel from the flame while it is red hot and allowing
air to circulate around it and cool it, which has also been recorded
ethnographically (Rice 1987:109). This correlates with Shafer’s (2009:177)
notion that reduced designs were produced by inverting the bowls “to keep
oxygen from reaching the painted surface,” and that if a red-on-white color was
desired, “the bowl was placed upright.” This fact makes it difficult to claim that
Mimbres bowls were “accidently” placed upright.
Again, not all Mimbres bowls are fully oxidized or fully reduced, and half-
oxidized and half-reduced bowls make up 25-40 percent of the oxidized
assemblage, depending on the site from which the bowls were recovered. This
variation in percentages is most likely due to the differing amounts of
excavation. It would seem nigh impossible to get the half-oxidized and half-
reduced effect by simply placing a vessel upright or inverted, implying that
perhaps an additional step or technique was involved to achieve the desired
half-and-half effect. The question then remains, how can we see this
archaeologically?
Half-oxidized/half-reduced vessels could represent vessels that were re-
fired in the opposite atmosphere than their first firing, which would alter the
paste and paint in color and composition, giving both a redder hue on one side
10
of the vessel. However, this notion could only be definitely proved if the original
maximum firing temperature was exceeded, or otherwise the paste would look
no different than the paste of a vessel fired only once (Crown and Wills
2003:515). Another alternative strategy would be to place a bowl inside another
bowl or bury half of the bowl in the ground or in ash, thereby preventing oxygen
exposure to part of it. Or, perhaps to produce a half-red and half-black effect, a
large sherd was placed on the inside of one half, thereby preventing exposure to
oxygen on that side.
Unfortunately, Mimbres archaeologists have not recovered from their
excavations any large sherds that could have been placed around the unfired
vessels to better control the temperature or sherds that potters could have
placed inside to get the half-and-half effect, or if they did, they did not discuss
them as production tools. Such sherds would be difficult to identify since we
have no evidence of firing facilities. The sherds would also only be identifiable
due to the redder paste color which would demonstrate that they were fired
more than once, but only if the original maximum firing temperature was
exceeded (Crown and Wills 2003:515). If these sherd tools do in fact exist, it is
possible that they are in off-site areas such as the flood plain or in extramural
areas or that looters have made them disappear.
With the exception of the NAN Ranch site (Shafer and Drollinger 1998),
archaeologists have concentrated mainly on room excavations and have largely
ignored extramural areas. This represents a huge gap in our knowledge about
11
outside activities such as pottery production. Shafer and Drollinger (1998)
concluded that adobe-lined pits found in extramural activity areas at the NAN
site were not used for pottery firings. Perhaps sherds used as paint palettes,
which are not uncommon in collections from NAN Ranch (Shafer 2009:176),
could have also functioned as firing tools to prevent air from reaching parts of a
design. If archaeologists could recover these large sherds, or analysis of the
paste resulted in the conclusion that the vessels were fired more than once, then
that would confirm the notion that producing half-red and half-black Mimbres
bowls in oxygen-rich environments perhaps required more tools and expertise.
This would also confirm intentionality on the part of Mimbres potters.
Although many strategies and skills were needed to produce the desired
oxidized red paint, most likely the iron oxides in the clays and mineral paints
Mimbres potters were already using would have sufficed to get the desired red
effect when fired in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. In an oxidizing atmosphere,
many compounds containing little or no oxygen will tend to combine with
oxygen forming oxides, and these oxides will enhance and bring out the natural
color of the most prevalent element or elements, which in this case is iron in the
form of ochre or magnetite (Shafer 2009:176). Hence, the red color is the
product of the oxygen binding to the iron in the black mineral paint on Mimbres
bowls and not the effect of anything being added. This fact does not detract
from my hypothesis that bowls fired in an oxidizing environment are indeed
12
examples of a distinct and intentional technological style different from reduced
vessels.
Summary
In this chapter, I have discussed the presence of color variation on
Mimbres ceramics, the previous conceptions about these oxidized vessels, and
the expectations I would have if these were indeed examples of “accidents” or
“mistakes,” and how we can identify bowls along these lines archaeologically. I
will test these expectations later and discuss them in chapter 4. I have also
delineated the specific technological variables and constraints that are involved
in any attempt at firing pottery in a bonfire rather than a kiln to illustrate how
much skill is involved in firing any vessels, let alone half-oxidized-half-reduced
vessels. This oxidization could only have been achieved as the result of a
possible additional tool and at the very least a specialized skill set. The increased
time and strategic knowledge to produce these vessels is perhaps the best
indicator of potter intentionality in the practice of firing vessels in an oxidizing
atmosphere. It would be virtually impossible to accidently execute the balanced
symmetry of the half-black and half-red designs, as they would require a special
placement of the bowl. In other words, I hope to have suggested that ancient
Mimbres potters were potentially firing vessels in an oxidizing atmosphere on
purpose and that it would fallacious to consider them mistakes without first
investigating what is involved in the process.
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Chapter 2
Theoretically Framing Intentionality in Archaeology and Mimbres Pottery Production
Agency is Integral
Hodder (2000:23) notes that we should still seek to uncover "individual
lived lives" and attempt to view agency and material culture in "terms of
individual forward-looking intentionality and creativity," but it can be quite
difficult and at times impossible to prove intentionality or that an object was
purposefully envisioned and made in a certain way in the past. Integral to my
hypothesis concerning Mimbres vessels being intentionally fired in an oxidizing
atmosphere is a discussion of the concept of agency.
Agency, originally fathered by Pierre Bourdieu and Antony Giddens, and
our ability to demonstrate it archaeologically has received growing support
within the scholarly community in the past couple of decades perhaps due to our
increased rejection of deterministic models that do not account for the
purposeful acts of individuals (Dornan 2002:304). In the archaeological
literature, the concept of agency has been compared with “the individual,
individually unique cognitive structures, resistance to social norms, resistance to
power inequalities, the capacity for skillful social practice, freedom from
structural constraints, and free will” (Dornan 2002:304), and its reflexive
relationship with social structure is always emphasized (Hegmon and Kulow
14
2005:329). As Dobres and Robb (2005:159) state “agency can be slippery to
define and see in the archaeological record,” but as it relates to social
reproduction and the possible meanings embedded in material culture, it is of
great importance to the present study.
Hegmon and Kulow (2005:319) note that while agency need not always
involve intentionality, and “the effects or consequences of particular actions may
be independent of the actor's intentions, this does not mean that intentionality
should be ignored theoretically.” Intentionality can be influenced by an actor’s
motives, which are in turn influenced by social and other structures. Potters
may “exercise” agency by reproducing, reinforcing, or intentionally or
unintentionally breaking the ceramic design structure by introducing novel forms
or technologies (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:316-317).
Thus, I think it can be argued that if painted designs can be
“instantiations of agency” (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:314), then so can the
manner in which a vessel is fired. Perhaps firing vessels in an oxidizing
atmosphere could also be viewed as a form of “innovation” (Hegmon and Kulow
2005:329) and oxidized bowls as a belonging to a production style distinct from
reduced Mimbres bowls. Both painted designs and firing styles involve the
individual, his or her motives, his or her apparent semi-consciousness of the
overarching structure around them, as Giddens (1979) would argue, and art as
one of many dynamic social processes.
15
Since agency is a social concept encompassing intentionality, there must
be a discussion of the archaeological knowledge concerning reality during the
span that Mimbres potters oxidized vessels if we hope to gain insight into a past
individual’s knowledge of reality to better evaluate our theories concerning their
material culture. However, before we can hope to discern the mindsets,
motives, and goals of Mimbres potters, we must first investigate the overarching
general structure and its history that shapes and in turn is shaped by an
individual’s agency.
Placing Intentionality into Mimbres History
In an attempt to better understand the possible intentional manufacture
of oxidized bowls, it is important to look at any transformative events that could
have occurred contemporaneously with this expression of material culture. If we
consider what social, ritual, and economic factors might have influenced or had
an impact on the technology of pottery making in general, then we can make
better informed evaluations concerning Mimbres potters’ perceptions of vessels
produced in oxidizing environments.
The first archaeologically visible occupation of the Mimbres Valley occurs
around A.D. 200 and consists of sites situated on top of hills or ridges. The sites
have subterranean pithouse architecture, and their inhabitants subsisted on corn
and produced plain globular ceramics. Around A.D. 550, these people
abandoned their sites on the hilltops and moved onto the first terrace of the
16
flood plain of the Mimbres River, and there they resided for approximately the
next six hundred years (LeBlanc 2004:10).
Somewhere between A.D. 950 and 1000, the villagers altered their
dwellings to an above-ground pueblo style, which eventually became ubiquitous
throughout the Mogollon region, with rooms linked into room blocks (Shafer and
Taylor 1986:65). Archaeologists have considered this shift in architectural style
to be indicative of corporate group social organization (Creel and Anyon
2003:69). This architectural change is also associated with the increasing
intensification of agriculture and change in settlement patterns and correlates
with a change in ritual organization (Shafer 1995:23). Creel and Anyon (2003:86)
suggest that the use of great kivas declined during the Classic period, although
smaller kivas endured, and plazas became the dominant form of ceremonial
architecture. Gilman et al. (n.d.) have suggested that this change in ritual
structures as well as the influx of numbers of parrots and macaws and the rise of
Mesoamerican influenced iconography during the late A.D. 900s and early 1000s
signifies changes in or replacement of the Great Kiva religion and the arrival of a
new possibly Mesoamerican inspired ideology.
The Classic Mimbres period occurred from about A.D. 1000-1130 and
coincided with the fluorescence of the painted pottery tradition and the more
frequent appearance of naturalistic and possibly mythological depictions
(LeBlanc 2004:11; Gilman et al. n.d.). Around A.D. 1150 but possibly as early as
A.D. 1130 (Hegmon 2002:327; Shafer and Brewington 1995:22), the Mimbres
17
culture either ceased to exist or underwent such a radical change that we can no
longer observe it in the archaeological record.
The concept that transformations of ideologies or world views are
reflected in the changes in ceramics is well described by Shafer and Taylor
(1986). In essence, the objects themselves can be symbolic references to an
ideology or cosmology, as the two have an intertwined relationship. This is not a
novel concept as the material world often reinforces our world view. Although
Shafer and Taylor (1986:65) do not state how the communal structures and
ceremonies and the “visual displays of ideographic symbols (including those on
ceramics)” actually served to reinforce “the altered residence and social
patterns,” the authors are not surprised that this relationship exists. It is within
this complex setting of the change from pithouse to pueblo architecture, the
increase in aggregation and agriculture intensification, the change to more
corporate social organization, and the decline of the Great Kiva religion that I will
place and consider intentionality and individual potter motives.
The Social and Symbolic Structure of Mimbres Pottery
As stated above, structure and its rules affect individual expression on
material culture, but innovations and adoptions can alter that same structure
over time. As Mimbres pottery has been a particular interest of southwestern
archaeologists for some time, we have much information concerning the social
and symbolic structures that influenced and were influenced by Mimbres potters
through time. The possibly competitive atmosphere in which potters worked,
18
the design tradition on all Mimbres bowls but specifically black-on-white bowls,
and the symbolic attitudes concerning iconography, form, and context on
Mimbres bowls all impact what intentional motives, goals, and expressions can
be conceptualized and therefore acted upon, and what avenues those actions
take.
Social Contexts of Mimbres Pottery Production
Currently there are debates concerning the relative numbers of Mimbres
potters producing vessels at one time in the Mimbres region. LeBlanc (2006:146)
suggests there were a few part-time specialist potters that were probably
competing with each other. What this competition entailed or the
characteristics by which it was judged, such as skill, complex design execution, or
innovation, is not stated. However, it is in this small-scale competitive setting
that Hegmon and Kulow (2005:319) state that intentional innovation by these
individuals could have a major impact on the entire design tradition. Perhaps
innovation and creativity within the design tradition in an attempt to outdo
other artists was present and maybe even encouraged in the Mimbres
community as a significant social process. However, due to the highly symbolic
aspects of Mimbres bowls, Hegmon and Kulow (2005:319) suggest that creative
bowls must have been recognized as legitimate or appropriate not only by fellow
painters but also by most members of Mimbres society.
19
Design Tradition
Any form or style of material culture exhibits some rules concerning the
design tradition and what is appropriate. Design traditions can be interpreted to
“include potters' knowledge of how to execute designs, their relationships with
other potters, their tools, and the corpus of vessels that they see and can use as
models” (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:317). For instance, the general trend through
time of Mimbres vessel styles as outlined by Hegmon and Kulow (2005:317), are
bowls that are plain brown, and then decorated with red and eventually black
painted designs. As the authors note, overall Mimbres pottery designs are non-
representation geometries, but representational designs are also present in a
number of layouts and symmetries. Figure 2.1 summarizes the various layout
forms Hegmon and Kulow (2005) describe. While scholars have outlined some
specific rules governing designs on Mimbres black-on-white bowls, Brody
(2004:102) and Hegmon and Kulow (2005) have claimed that although painting is
“tradition bound” there is some flexibility in the degree of personal expression
able to be represented on the vessels. The variation in vessel design layout in
Figure 2.1 also supports this notion.
20
Figure 2.1. Various layouts of Mimbres designs (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:324).
21
Iconography
Hegmon and Kulow (2005:319) have asserted that both the designs and
the contexts of Mimbres vessels suggest that they were “highly charged
symbolically.” And, according to Bunzel (1972:69) writing about her
ethnographic work with female Zuni potters, every design is significant and has a
name, and a “story,” and it most likely references a situation or an event rather
than an object or idea. However, a symbol is only a symbol when the association
between the design and the object is fixed and recognized (Bunzel 1972:69).
Many archaeologists have attempted to draw conclusions from the naturalistic
motifs painted on Mimbres bowls, such as relating specific animals to clan or
group identities (LeBlanc 1983:119), but to no avail.
While LeBlanc (1983) uses interpretations of the motifs by Hopi people,
Thompson (1999) attributes some the naturalistic images to be better
interpreted in Mesoamerican terms, with relevance to the Hero Twins saga. He
is not alone as many other archaeologists such as Hays-Gilpin and Hill (2000)
have noted the possible similarities between Mimbres and Mesoamerican
symbols, for example, images of the Flower World. While there are debates
concerning the best interpretation of Mimbres iconography painted on bowls,
the goal here is to express how symbolic the images are and thus suggesting that
color may be as well.
22
Vessel Form and Mortuary Patterns
Although Moulard is an art historian and not an archaeologist, her 1984
book and analysis offer an interesting perspective to not only the designs
themselves, but also that the form of the hemispheric bowls is symbolic. She
(Moulard 1984:xviii) argues that because much of the iconography symbolizes
transformations, that the bowls often characterized as mortuary vessels might
also relate to a transformative event such as death. She suggests that the
mortuary vessels are “metaphors for the sky dome (from Pueblo ethnography)
and the hole that is generally punched in the burial vessels is for emergence into
the Otherworld” (Hegmon 2002:341). To Moulard, the standard burial practice
during the Classic Mimbres period of placing a single painted bowl over the head
of a flexed individual and then punching a “kill-hole” in the bottom was a
symbolic breaking of the barrier between the two metaphysical realms - the
Middleworld of the living and the realm of the dead in the Underworld, with the
hole acting as the “axis mundi” (Moulard 1984:xviii; Shafer 1995:43) (Figure 2.2).
23
Figure 2.2. Burial with “killed” bowl inverted over cranium (Shafer 1995:33).
Summary
While there are debates concerning the efficacy of identifying
intentionality and mindsets of individuals in the past, a theoretical approach
concerning agency and its recursive relationship with general structure provides
the best avenue through which to view variations in the material culture. Before
we start interpreting material culture as examples of conceptualized innovation,
unintentional mistakes, or not well executed goals, it is imperative that we
examine our current knowledge concerning the overarching social, design, and
24
symbolic tradition and structure of Mimbres bowls. Structure shapes and can
limit the conscious motives of potters in the past, as well as the physical avenues
and manifestations of those motives, and their subsequent effect on material
culture and structure.
While Mimbres painted designs may have been a part of a social process
encouraging creativity and innovation, the highly symbolic context surrounding
Mimbres black-on-white bowls in iconography, form, and burial context suggest
that these innovations had to be recognized as legitimate vessels not only by
fellow painters but also by most members of Mimbres society. Perhaps this
symbolic importance limited the available avenues of expression and innovation
of Mimbres bowls to more symbolic representations or ideas.
25
Chapter 3
Methods for Creating the Dataset, Analyzing Color, and Evaluating Expectations
Creating the Dataset
I used the Mimbres Pottery Image Digital Database, or MimPIDD, to
collect data on bowls with oxidized designs. This dataset allowed me to test my
hypothesis that Mimbres potters were intentionally firing some of their vessels
in an oxidized environment, and that this constitutes as a form of technological
style. The MimPIDD is an online database that contains photographs and
information on over 10,000 whole, reconstructed, or partial vessels from the
Mimbres region. The data available on the MimPIDD include fields such as the
Mimbres Archive identification number (MA#), the vessels’ contexts, including
but not limited to burials or rooms, the vessels’ temporal type, and use wear
amounts. All of these variables will help me test my expectations concerning
intentionality and mistakes.
I have examined the entire archive, vessel by vessel, to locate all of the
oxidized ones, using only the search parameters of the bowl vessel form and the
black-on-white design style. For this research, however, I am focusing on the
326 oxidized bowls that fit these two categories from five of the largest and best
documented sites in or near the Mimbres Valley. The Mattocks (Nesbitt 1931;
Gilman and LeBlanc n.d.), Galaz (Anyon and LeBlanc 1984), Cameron Creek
(Bradfield 1931), NAN Ranch (Shafer 2003), and Swarts (Cosgrove and Cosgrove
26
1932) sites have the best temporal and spatial contextual evidence for the
recovered bowls and have the largest ceramic assemblages in general, due to
their relatively large sizes and extensive excavations. Thus they will be the only
sites included in this study (Figure 3.1). These sites were chosen because if any
patterns were to be gleaned from the data they would be present from these
five sites. I did look at all known sites located in the Mimbres region to establish
whether oxidized bowls were restricted to just a few sites or if this was a region-
wide phenomenon. The latter is correct in that at least one oxidized vessel was
recovered from each the sites of Baca, Bradsby, Carr, Cienega, Eby, Fort Bayard,
Kenley, Lee Ranch, McSherry, Mitchell, Old Town, Osbourne, Treasure Hill, Villa
Real Ranch, Warm Springs, Wheaton-Smith, and Whiskey Creek. That being said,
I will only be focusing on the aforementioned five sites.
27
Figure 3.1. Sites included in this study.
Analyzing Color
I chose only the bowls that I was confident were red and oxidized for my
dataset, based on the brightness of the red and the uniformity of color of both
the design and rim bands where present. Then I grouped the oxidized vessels by
site, proportion of bowl oxidized, i.e., fully or half, geometric or naturalistic
(representing real and observable life forms) designs, and temporal style
28
(Appendix 1). Half-oxidized bowls were only included in the dataset if the ratio
of black to red designs fit within the range of 40-60 percent and if the proportion
of the oxidized or reduced parts correlated with the symmetry of the layout and
of the design elements themselves. If bowls were not half or fully oxidized, then
they were not included in the dataset. For a quick comparison, Figure 3.2
visually illustrates a quintessential bowl that I was confident was oxidized as well
as one that I was not convinced was properly oxidized and thus was not included
in the dataset. The bowl on the left is a vibrant red and uniform in color, while
the bowl on the right is a more rust colored and has spots that are darker than
others. The latter bowl caused me to be uncertain about what the intended
color outcome was supposed to be and whether the potter had achieved it. An
additional dataset of 100 bowls was created with these same variables but for
reduced black-on-white bowls chosen from each of the same five sites to
compare the two assemblages in terms of the aforementioned variables.
Figure 3.2. Oxidized (left;MA2871) versus questionable oxidized bowl (right;MA2902).
29
I also created a category of Mimbres bowls, separate from the oxidized
assemblage, with paint that appears brown rather than red or black. It is
possible that these were intended to be black designs that oxidized to some
degree or red designs that were not oxidized enough, but due to the quality of
the MimPIDD photographs, it remains unclear whether they should be grouped
with the rest of the oxidized assemblage. On the other hand, they could indeed
be brown, and perhaps they are truly firing mistakes. The color of brown may
also be symbolic of something still unknown to archaeologists. The brown
assemblage (n=270) from the same five sites has not been analyzed and will not
be discussed further but could be of use for future studies concerning color
symbolism.
The fact that my dataset is derived strictly from photos negates the use
of a more quantifiable method of determining color such as using a Munsell
color chart. These photos were taken at different times and by various
individuals who used different cameras, lighting, and backgrounds. All of these
factors affect the color as photographed on the vessels. A certain amount of
ground-truthing, such as viewing the actual vessels, would be necessary to
ascertain that the paint is indeed red and not just an effect of the lighting or the
result of some other quality of the photograph.
30
Variables Used for the Examination of Intentionality
I chose the variables of temporal style, design class, use wear, and
archaeological contexts because they were most consistently recorded in the
MimPIDD, and patterns or differences among them could be the most telling.
These variables could indicate during what time period oxidation was first
incorporated into the larger design structure in which Mimbres potters
operated, where oxidation appeared in the greatest amounts within the region
and within the individual sites, if the proportions of oxidized vessels were
relatively consistent over time, and if use wear, and archaeological contexts
were uniform between the reduced and oxidized assemblages. These allow for
the evaluation of the expectations I stated in Chapter 1 concerning whether the
oxidized bowls were “mistakes,” as I would expect there to be consistent
proportions of mistakes across time, the exclusion of accidents with little or no
social meaning from some of the contexts of their more significant counterparts,
fewer indications of the association of mistakes with symbolism, and greater
amounts of use wear on the mistakes.
The Range of Variation within Each Recorded Variable
Mimbres Temporal Style
The Mimbres black-on-white design style sequence starts with Boldface
Black-on-white (A.D. 750-900), continues through Early and Late Transitional
Black-on-white (A.D. 880-1020), and then to Classic Black-on-white (A.D. 1010-
1130). Shafer and Brewington (1995:7) divided the latter into early (A.D. 1010-
31
1080), middle (A.D. 1060-1110) and late styles (A.D. 1110-1130). The fine-
grained temporal placement of the 326 bowls in my sample has allowed me to
observe if there are patterns of variables through time and among and within
sites. Any substantial increase or decrease in relative proportions of oxidized
vessels through time could support my argument that oxidized vessels were not
natural expected accidents but culturally conditioned and patterned.
Mimbres Black-on-white Design Classes
The images depicted on Mimbres hemispheric bowls can be classified as
either geometric or naturalistic (representational), although the classification of
a bowl into one of these categories does not preclude motifs of the other from
also being present. Generally, there are more bowls in the geometric design
class in the ceramic assemblages as geometric motifs were painted in all styles
from Boldface to Late Classic. On the other hand, while present in both Boldface
and Transitional temporal styles, naturalistic bowls did not represent a
significant proportion of the ceramic assemblage until the Classic period (Shafer
and Brewington 1995:13). Thus I would expect oxidized bowls to also follow this
pattern.
Use Wear and Archaeological Contexts
In the past 30 years, two notable studies have been conducted
concerning the functional roles of the Mimbres ceramics as evidenced by use
wear analysis. Both Lyle’s 1996 Master’s thesis and Bray’s 1982 article describe
wear in terms of its placement on the vessel, the type of wear caused by specific
32
actions such as grinding and stirring, and on a scale from light to heavy amounts.
The information present in the MimPIDD only includes the scale of wear
between no wear to heavy wear, including light, light/moderate, moderate, and
moderate/heavy wear. I have no knowledge of the definitions used to make
those analytical choices. Use wear amounts will be considered in this study for a
comparison between the reduced and oxidized assemblages as statistically
significant differences between the two assemblages could indicate that people
in the Mimbres region placed different meanings on vessels produced in
different firing styles. If oxidized vessels exhibit more use wear, then it could be
argued that they had less material worth because they were accidents and not
intentionally produced.
As has been stated earlier, with the exception of NAN Ranch, few
archaeological excavations have included the extramural areas outside of the
structures. This limits the possible range of archaeological contexts in which
bowls have been recovered. Generally, they are found in sub-floor burials in
habitation rooms, and less frequently in storage or ceremonial rooms, or in the
fill of any rooms (Gilman 1990). Burial contexts can be further divided into the
age and sex of the associated individual, the presence of other grave goods, and
the position of the bowls relative to the skeleton. The defining factor for
evaluating intentionality is really whether oxidized bowls have been recovered
from ceremonial rooms or burials or were more secular and utilitarian at the
time the bowls were discarded.
33
Statistical Testing Methods and Software
Because many of the variables outlined above and viewable in Appendix
1 are recorded as nominal data as opposed to continuous numerical data, this
precludes the use of significance tests such as t-tests. Instead, I chose to use chi-
square tests that can be employed to compare two populations or groups of
nominal data to see if they vary significantly or if the apparent variance is just
the result of the vagaries of random sampling. It is the most appropriate test of
significance between the oxidized and reduced assemblages because the chi-
square test does not involve means or standard deviations, and its results are
not heavily influenced by outliers, although the sample size must be adequate
enough in relation to the number of cells for it to be a reliable approximation of
the real probabilities (Drennan 2010:191). I used the SAS JMP10 statistical
computer program to calculate the chi square (χ2) values, and the test is the
Pearson’s chi square test, which is the best known and most popular chi-square
test. For two variables with continuous data, I conducted non-parametric tests
such as the Wilcoxon, as the data were not normal.
Summary
To evaluate my expectations concerning intentionality and the
purposeful firing of vessels in oxidizing environments, I created a dataset of 326
oxidized vessels from the five best documented sites in the Mimbres region, and
I recorded the variables of temporal style, design class, use wear, and
archaeological contexts. I also created a comparative database with the same
34
variables for 100 reduced vessels from the same sites to discover whether there
were observable differences between the two assemblages. Statistically
significant differences in use wear amounts between the two kinds of vessels, or
inconsistencies concerning the relative proportions of vessels in symbolic
contexts could be attributed to different social perceptions, significance, and
values placed on oxidized versus reduced bowls. However, if there are
observable patterns concerning oxidized vessels through time, as indicated by
temporal style, and across space that are not consistent, then this could indicate
their intentional firing and inherent meaning within Mimbres society.
35
Chapter 4
Comparisons across Time, Space, and Oxidized and Reduced Firing Styles
Comparisons of the variables, such as bowl shape, design class, design
layout, temporal style, use wear, archaeological contexts, and age of associated
individual, between the oxidized and reduced firing styles using statistical
significance testing will allow me to evaluate whether oxidized bowls were
intentionally fired or not by testing the expectations presented in Chapter 1. If
oxidized vessels were considered to be mistakes and had a less important or
valued meaning than reduced vessels in Mimbres society, then I would expect
that there would be no patterns of oxidized vessels across time and space, that
the relative proportion of oxidized vessels would remain fairly consistent
throughout time, and that oxidized vessels would excluded from symbolic or
ritual contexts such as burials and ceremonial rooms. Analysis of oxidized bowls
through time and across space will also illuminate when and where oxidized
painting was developed and used, and any spatial patterns present may indicate
the presence of pottery-making workgroups. Also, analysis within the oxidized
assemblage will illuminate whether there is great variation between full and half-
oxidized vessels and give us a more nuanced view concerning the level of
intentionality placed on Mimbres ceramics.
36
Differences between Oxidized and Reduced Painted Pottery
If makers and users of oxidized bowls viewed them as mistakes, then they
might treat them differently. If oxidized vessels could be demonstrated to vary
in statistically significant ways from reduced bowls, then the claim that the
oxidized bowls were intentionally made would not be supported. If oxidized
vessels exhibited heavier use wear or were not found in burial contexts, then we
could assume that they had less significant meaning in the society that created
them. However, as we see below, this is apparently not the case.
Height and Rim Diameters of Oxidized and Reduced Bowls
Since painted hemispheric bowls are ubiquitous throughout the Mimbres
region, shape differences in height and rim diameter may be an avenue to
investigate differences between firing styles. As Figure 4.1 and 4.2
demonstrate, some differences between the two assemblages can be observed
in regards to both height and rim diameter. To determine if these differences
are statistically significant, I conducted a non-parametric Wilcoxon test. As the
data did not test well for unequal variances and was not normal in its multimodal
distribution, a non-parametric test becomes a more appropriate avenue for
testing significance. Both height and rim diameter vary significantly between the
two assemblages with (χ2=7.8100; p>0.0052, df=1) and (χ2=8.0019; p>0.0047,
df=1) respectfully. The mean diamonds indicate that for both variables the
reduced assemblage is significantly taller and wider than the oxidized
assemblage. Perhaps the shape of the oxidized were more standardized because
37
fewer potters were involved in their overall production, or the need of a sherd
tool to assist in uniformly oxidizing half of the bowl required a smaller, shallower
more standardized shape.
Figure 4.1. Scatterplot with mean diamonds showing differences in height between oxidized and reduced vessels. The center line of the diamond represents the mean while the height of the diamond represents one standard deviation from the mean.
38
Figure 4.2. Scatterplot with mean diamonds showing differences in rim diameter between oxidized and reduced vessels.
Design Layouts and Oxidized and Reduced Vessels
An investigation of the design layouts (Figure 4.3) present on bowls
belonging to the oxidized assemblage from the five sites shows no significant
differences from the reduced vessels. Four section and center-oriented layouts
dominate both assemblages by composing 60 and 70 percent of the reduced and
oxidized assemblages respectively. This robust pattern is confirmed by a
Pearson’s chi-square test in which there is no statistically significant difference
between the two assemblages (χ2=6.577; p>0.4742, df=7). This is visually
39
illustrated in the mosaic plot of Figure 4.4, and the scale to the right can be read
as the area proportional to counts on y axis and categories of design layouts. It
must be noted that six categories of layouts (n=30 rows) which were not
common for either assemblage were excluded from the significance testing, so
that the chi-square would not be suspect. A table with 20 percent or more of
the cells in the contingency plot that have cells with a value fewer than five,
makes the results of the chi-square suspect. All chi-square contingency tables
have been included in Appendix 2. To ensure that the excluded rows with small
counts would not affect the chi-square results, I put them all into an Other
category and ran the test again and confirmed the result of no significant
difference.
40
Figure 4.3. The painted design layouts of the oxidized and reduced assemblages.
41
Figure 4.4. The proportions of layouts in the oxidized and reduced assemblages.
Use wear and Oxidized and Reduced Vessels
Looking at the differences in use wear is an important step in inferring
the life histories and intended function or functions of the bowls and evaluating
whether those functions were different between oxidized and reduced pottery.
If both kinds of bowls served similar functions, then we can make inferences
concerning their valued meaning and thus to their intentional manufacture.
According to a chi-square analysis, there are significant differences between the
two firing styles when amounts of use wear are considered (x2=17.364; p>0.080,
df=6). This test suggests that the differences observed are real and not due to
the vagrancies of random sampling (Figure 4.6). A look at the percentages of
wear between the two firing styles can give enlightenment as to what these
differences are. There are approximately 10 percent more bowls of the reduced
assemblage that show evidence of light use wear, as opposed to the oxidized
42
assemblage which contains about 10 percent more bowls with heavy wear and
five percent more with moderate/heavy wear (Figure 4.5).
Figure 4.5. The percentages of use wear in the oxidized and reduced assemblages.
43
Figure 4.6. The proportions of use wear in the oxidized and reduced assemblages.
This being said, more work should be done to investigate whether this is
due to differential use wear through time or among sites. At this point, it would
be hasty to conclude that because oxidized bowls exhibit more use wear they
were not considered as important as reduced bowls by their users and that this
is an indication that they were indeed firing mistakes. There could be other
variables influencing the amount of wear on vessels. Also as noted in the
previous chapter, many different people have conducted the use wear
assessments of the vessels in MimPIDD, and the chi-square values may be
entirely the product of the different analyses and not of social perception of use
or importance of one kind of firing over the other.
44
Design Class and Oxidized and Reduced Vessels
There are no significant differences between proportions of geometric or
naturalistic designs on oxidized or reduced vessels (χ2=1.310; p>0.2525, df=1;
Figure 4.7). Interestingly enough, there are 6.42 percent more naturalistic bowls
that are oxidized than reduced, although this difference is small enough it can be
attributed to the errors of random sampling and does not demonstrate that
naturalistic motifs were statistically painted more often on oxidized bowls.
There are slightly more geometric bowls in the reduced assemblage, but again
this difference is not significant and easily attributable to the errors of random
sampling.
Figure 4.7. The proportions of design classes in oxidized and reduced assemblages.
45
Burial and Non-burial Contexts of Oxidized and Reduced Vessels
An investigation into the archaeological contexts in which the oxidized
and reduced vessels in my sample were found will allow me to evaluate my
expectation that if oxidized bowls were considered “mistakes” by their makers
they would not often be in symbolic contexts such as burials. Since NAN Ranch is
the only site where ceremonial rooms were noted as contexts for recovered
vessels, I only compared the oxidized and reduced assemblages by the numbers
of vessels in either burial or non-burial contexts. I excluded 15 rows of my
dataset from the analysis in which contextual data were unknown, or if there
were fewer than five vessels for a specific variable. Their inclusion in the
contingency and chi-square analysis would have caused the values to be suspect
as 20 percent of the cells would have values less than five, making it statistically
difficult to establish the relationship between the data assemblages. The chi-
square value (χ2=4.469; p>0.1071, df=2; Figure 4.8) demonstrate that there are
no statistically significant differences between the oxidized and reduced
assemblages where the archaeological contexts of burial or non-burial are
compared. Bowls that were recovered from burial contexts consisted of about
80 percent for both ceramic assemblages.
46
Figure 4.8. The proportion of vessel contexts in oxidized and reduced assemblages. Age of Individual and Oxidized and Reduced Vessels For the vessels in burial contexts, I recorded the age of the individual with
which an oxidized or reduced vessel was placed and the location of the vessel
relative to the individual. Here only distributions in ages are examined due to
the missing data concerning sexes of the individuals because of poor
preservation or the inability to determine them. The Pearson’s test concludes
that there are statistically significant differences between oxidized and reduced
vessels where the age of the associated individual is concerned (χ 2=11.461,
p>0.0218, df=4; Figure 4.9).
47
Figure 4.9. The age differences of individuals associated with oxidized and reduced vessels.
For a quick reference, Figure 4.10 illustrates where the percentages for
age groups differ between the two assemblages. The oxidized assemblage has
greater percentages of burials with individuals belonging to the Old Adult, Infant,
and Child age groups. Alternatively, reduced vessels are slightly more frequently
associated with adults and adolescents. The most telling differences between
the two assemblages concern the Adolescent and Old Adult categories. Oxidized
bowls are not frequently associated with Adolescents, and reduced bowls are
not frequently associated with Old Adults.
48
Figure 4.10. Percentages of skeletal ages associated with oxidized and reduced vessels.
Differences Between Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels
As I have stated above in a preceding chapter, half-oxidized and half-
reduced vessels best illustrate a high level of intentionality in firing Mimbres
vessels. To support this, an analysis between the two types of oxidization styles
would be quite advantageous. I used the same variables, height, rim, diameter,
design layout, use wear, design class, archaeological context, and age of buried
individual, as discussed in the oxidized and reduced comparison. This repetition
of variables allows me to discern any patterns within the oxidized assemblage
and to compare the half-oxidized assemblage with the overall patterns of the
total oxidized assemblage.
Per
cen
tage
s
49
Height and Rim Diameter of Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels
As Figures 4.11 and 4.12 demonstrate, there are significant differences
between the fully and half-oxidized vessels in regards to both height and rim
diameter (χ2=3.9576; p>0.0467, df=1) and (χ2=7.2599; p>0.0071, df=1)
respectively. The mean diamond plots, which are affected by outliers, indicate
that for both height and rim diameter, half-oxidized vessels are taller and wider
than their fully oxidized counterparts.
Figure 4.11. Scatterplot with mean diamonds showing differences in vessel height between full and half-oxidized vessels.
50
Figure 4.12. Scatterplot with mean diamonds showing differences in vessel rim diameter between fully and half-oxidized vessels.
However, since the alpha threshold for a Wilcoxon test is p>0.05, the p
value for the height variable (0.0467) may or may not be statistically significant
when other tests are applied. The question remains whether these results are
the effects of anomalies on a relatively small identified sample, or if there is an
inherent difference manifesting itself in the data. Perhaps this pattern indicates
half-oxidized bowls were used as serving vessels in which a relatively taller and
wider vessel would allow the painted design to be viewed more easily. Or
perhaps it was functionally easier to accomplish the half-oxidized half-reduced
effect in firing by having a larger, wider interior surface on which to place a sherd
to prevent oxygen from reaching part of the design.
51
Design Layouts of Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels
Differences between the fully and half-oxidized groups become
more apparent when design layout is considered. A Pearson’s chi-square test
(Figure 4.13) illustrates that there is a significant difference in the frequency of
certain types of layouts between the two assemblages (χ2=22.017; p>0.0012,
df=6). It must be noted that six categories of layouts (n=26 rows), which were
not common for either assemblage, were excluded from the significance testing,
so that the chi-square would not be suspect. A table with 20 percent or more of
the cells in the contingency plot having cells with values fewer than five makes
the results of the chi-square suspect. To ensure that the excluded rows with
small counts would not affect the chi-square results, I put them all into an Other
category and ran the test again and confirmed the result of no significant
difference.
52
Figure 4.13. The proportions of layouts in the fully and half-oxidized assemblages. As Figure 4.13 demonstrates, the 4 Section and Center Figure oriented
layouts dominate both oxidized assemblages. The divergence between the two
occurs in the relative frequencies of those layouts. Fully oxidized vessels more
frequently exhibit central figure designs, and half-oxidized vessels, while
exhibiting many central figures, more frequently exhibit designs with a 4 section
symmetrical layout. Since half-oxidized and half-reduced vessels are more or
less equally symmetrical with half of the painted design being black and half
appearing red, this robust difference in layouts is quite interesting. This may
indicate that while a potter was painting a vessel before it was fired, that potter
was making a choice to paint a more symmetrical design that could be more
easily fired to achieve a complimentary and aesthetically pleasing half-red and
half-black effect. This detail is perhaps our best evidence for a high level of
intentionality and decision-making on the part of Mimbres potters.
53
Figure 4.14. Bar graph showing the differences in design layout between fully and half-oxidized vessels. Use wear of Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels As a chi-square test indicates (χ2=15.581; p>0.0162, df=6), there is also a
significant difference between fully and half-oxidized vessels when the frequency
of varying levels of vessel use wear is considered. Figure 4.15 shows that half-
oxidized vessels more often exhibit lighter amounts of wear than there fully
oxidized counterparts. Again, what we can glean concerning the meaning or
importance of these bowls to Mimbres people is difficult. Here we can assume
that either Mimbres families used fully oxidized vessels longer or more
54
intensively. This could indicate that they had less meaning, importance, or value
placed on them than the half-oxidized vessels, which took longer and more
energy to produce. Perhaps half-oxidized vessels were only brought out for
special occasions or domestic rituals and thus exhibit less overall use wear.
Figure 4.15. The proportions of use wear in the fully and half-oxidized assemblages. Design Classes of Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels Similar to the pattern presented in the above discussion concerning
layout, the fully and half-oxidized vessels differ significantly when design class is
considered (χ2=22.354; p>0.0001, df=1). Mimbres potters painted more
naturalistic motifs on vessels that would then be fired in a full oxidizing
environment and proportionally painted more geometric motifs on vessels that
would be fired in half oxidizing and half-reduced atmospheres (Figure 4.16).
Again, I think that it can be argued that this pattern attests to the various
55
decisions made before the vessel was ever fired, and it is an indication of the
high level of intentionality in firing oxidized vessels.
Figure 4.16. The proportions of design class in the fully and half-oxidized assemblages. Burial and Non-burial Contexts of Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels
While I have discussed some interesting differences between the fully
and half-oxidized assemblages, with regards to the archaeological contexts of
the two, a chi-square test determined that there are no significant differences
(χ2=4.210; p>0.3783, df=4). This suggests that Mimbres groups viewed fully and
half-oxidized vessels as relatively equal in terms of significance. Although Figure
4.17 might appear to indicate that more half-oxidized bowls were recovered
from burial contexts, we must assume from the chi-square results that both
56
forms of oxidized vessels were equally placed in burials. This is the same pattern
displayed by both oxidized and reduced vessels.
Figure 4.17. The proportions of archaeological contexts in the fully and half-oxidized assemblages. Age of Associated Individual of Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels A chi-square analysis of the proportions of fully and half-oxidized vessels
associated with certain ages of individuals likewise resulted in no statistically
significant differences between the two oxidized firing styles (χ2=5.840;
p>0.2114, df=4). This is a break from what we witnessed earlier when the
oxidized and reduced assemblages were compared and were statistically
different. Figure 4.18 demonstrates that while the two assemblages are equally
placed with each age group, they are also equally not often associated with
adolescent burials. This detail was the main variation observed in Figure 4.10
between the reduced and oxidized assemblages, and it is worth noting here.
57
Figure 4.18. The proportions of ages of associated individuals in the fully and half-oxidized assemblage.
In sum, an analysis of the variation between fully and half-oxidized
vessels allows us to gain a more nuanced perspective concerning the notion of
intentionality and its relation to the production of Mimbres ceramics. Using the
same variables as in the discussion of reduced and oxidized vessels, chi-square
tests revealed more variation between fully and half-oxidized vessels, even
greater than the variation present between oxidized and reduced vessels.
Although not representing a large sample, half-oxidized vessels differed
significantly from their fully oxidized counterparts with regards to shape in terms
of height and rim diameter, layout, design class, and use wear but not in
archaeological context, nor in ages of individuals buried with bowls. Half-
oxidized bowls being taller and wider may have facilitated the half-oxidized firing
58
procedure, and painting designs favoring geometric and four section layout
symmetries supports the hypothesis that this type of vessel is the best indicator
we have for a higher level of intentionality in production and of potter
forethought concerning the ideal final product.
Summary of the Statistical Analyses
After conducting chi-square analyses to determine whether the oxidized
assemblage varies significantly from the reduced assemblage, I discovered that
the two assemblages differed very little in terms of bowl design class, design
layout, use wear, context, and age of individuals buried with bowls. While there
were statistically significant differences in between the two assemblages in
shape, use wear, and age of associated individuals, I attributed part of these
differences to varying degrees of wear at the five sites. This could be indicative
of differences in perceptions of meaning placed on the bowls. However it is
difficult to determine whether the heavier use wear oxidized vessels represents
them being used as less meaningful mistakes, which would be used more harshly
or intensively, or that they were important and thus used longer creating a heavy
use wear pattern. The only other significant difference was when the age of the
associated individual was considered. There was a greater frequency of old
adults and infants associated with oxidized rather than reduced bowls, and
perhaps this is influenced by an ideology that associates certain ages with
specific colors.
59
Also, the similarity in high proportions of oxidized and reduced bowls
placed in symbolically charged burials, suggests that oxidized bowls were not
mistakenly made. Like the reduced assemblage, most oxidized bowls have been
recovered from burials, indicating that they were not excluded from these
contexts. Likewise the lack of differences between assemblages in terms of
design class, and design layout, and other aspects of design structure suggest
that oxidized bowls were intentionally made and fired. The divergence between
fully and half-oxidized vessels in terms of shape, layout, use wear and design
class speaks to the level of intentionality involved in the production of both fully,
but specifically half-oxidized and half-reduced vessels.
Spatial and Temporal Distributions of Oxidized Vessels from the Five Sites
I conducted this section of the analysis to discover whether there are any
patterns in the spatial distributions of the oxidized bowls in temporally distinct
rooms at the five sites used in the sample, and whether those patterns differ in
any way when the two forms of oxidization, i.e., fully or half, are compared. This
is pertinent to my argument of intentionality, as it allows me to evaluate my
previously stated expectations. That is, if oxidized vessels were indeed
considered mistakes by their makers and users, I would expect there to be no
robust patterns across time and space, because mistakes would occur fairly
consistently across time and space, and that mistakes would be excluded from
highly charged symbolic burials and ceremonial or ritual spaces.
60
To do this, the occupation dates of these rooms at each of the sites
relative to the temporal style of the oxidized bowls present must be taken into
account. I consulted the published site reports to become familiar with the
construction sequence of the various room blocks and the sequence of the
rooms within those blocks. Other archaeologists determined the architectural
sequence, and filled in the gaps with the ceramic typological sequence. I used
techniques such as radiocarbon and dendrochronology dating when available
(Shafer and Taylor 1986:52). This allowed me create maps of each of the five
sites to diachronically examine the rooms in which the oxidized vessels were
deposited to see how the presence of oxidation moved across time and space at
each site, and to compare the occupation of a room with the temporal style of
an oxidized vessel. Note in all of the figures below that the locations of the dots
within the rooms do not correlate with the actual intra-room locations from
which the oxidized vessels were recovered.
It is important to note that the context from which an oxidized vessel was
recovered may not have been where it was actually produced, although it can be
argued that oxidized bowls were continuously deposited during the occupation
of the sites. Thus any patterns present might only be indicative of users and
those depositing vessels rather than individual producers or potter workgroups.
Despite these facts, the contexts from which oxidized bowls were recovered,
either ceremonial or utilitarian, can help evaluate the claim towards their
intentional manufacture and their role in the cosmology of the people who made
61
and used them. If the oxidized vessels did not have any symbolic significance to
Mimbres society, then more than likely they would not be place in highly
charged burial and ceremonial contexts at all or in roughly similar amounts as
reduced bowls.
Below is an examination of fully and half (if present) oxidized bowls in
terms of spatial distribution and temporal spread at each site in the study.
Where information on rooms and their construction sequence is known, that will
be compared with the temporal style of the recovered oxidized vessels. Any
spatial pattern or room significance will be discussed first, followed by an
investigation into any temporal patterns present.
NAN Ranch Site
The 32 oxidized Mimbres bowls recovered at the NAN Ranch site (Table
4.1) were plotted onto their respective rooms on the site map (Figure 4.19) if
their location was recorded in MimPIDD. According to Shafer’s (2009)
descriptions of the numbered burials, most of the oxidized bowls were placed in
burials beneath the floors of room. Bowls that were fully (n=12) oxidized were
coded with a red dot, and those that were classified as being half-oxidized and
half-reduced (n=11) were coded with a black dot. The oxidized vessels are
present in all of the room blocks (Figure 4.19), which were constructed at
different times and in phases. There does appear to be a slight patterning of the
half-oxidized and half-reduced vessels in the South room block and the southern
half of the East room block, as there are many oxidized bowls in rooms 28 and 29
62
which also contain the most burials at the site. Also, those eight (MA 7545,
7580, 7610, 7612, 7624, 7648, 7679, 7684) vessels are not adequate to assume a
pattern associated with a southern direction, which could be symbolically
synonymous with the color red.
Table 4.1. Counts and Totals of Fully and Half-oxidized Vessels for Each Site.
Site Fully Oxidized Half-oxidized Total
NAN Ranch 21 11 32
Mattocks 16 4 20
Swarts 64 46 110
Cameron Creek 28 9 37
Galaz 79 31 110
63
Figure 4.19 The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the NAN Ranch site. Red dots = fully oxidized bowls, and black dots = half-oxidized/ half-reduced bowls. Green outlines = room construction/ occupation dates to the Early Classic period (A.D. 1010-1080), blue = a Middle Classic date (A.D. 1060-1110), orange = a Middle/Late Classic date (A.D. 1080-1130), and purple = a Late Classic date (A.D. 1100-1130) (Shafer and Brewington 1995:7).
As to the temporal spread, it appears that the oxidized vessels occur at all
stages of pueblo construction and occupation, although bowls from the Classic
period specifically belonging to the Middle Classic and Late Classic design styles
dominate. The earliest surface rooms were grouped into cores or clusters of
N
64
rooms, and later other rooms were built around them (Shafer 1995:27). Rooms
12 and 29 were part of two Early Classic core groups in the East and South room
blocks respectively. Room 29 was used fairly continuously for perhaps seven 20
year generations, spanning the Early Classic period to the end of the Late Classic
period (Shafer 2003:97), with Early, Middle, and Late Classic oxidized vessels
present in the room. This continuity through time of oxidized vessels, both of
fully and only half suggests that artists used this production technique
consecutively through time. Indeed, two of the NAN Ranch oxidized vessels (MA
7527, 7545 in rooms 75 and 29 respectfully) are Transitional in style, suggesting
that people used this technique even earlier.
It is interesting that some of the bowls (MA 7527, 7545, 7580, 7587, and
7612 and in rooms 75, 29, 28, 11, and 41 respectfully) are typed as belonging to
a temporal style that predates the construction and occupation of the rooms and
perhaps are heirlooms. However, the bowls that predate the room use only
exhibit light wear, suggesting that even if they were used longer they were not
necessarily used intensively. Perhaps this lack of wear over an extended period
of time demonstrates the ceremonial importance or social significance of the
vessels. Other oxidized vessels (MA 7598, 7610, 7624, 7647, 7679, 7683, and
7684, all in rooms 28 and 29) postdate the occupation of rooms 28 and 29 and
are with intrusive burials that were placed in previously occupied and
abandoned habitation rooms. Perhaps this late placement of oxidized bowls in
65
ceremonial rooms that are no longer in use speaks to the significance of oxidized
vessels and their association with ritual space.
Because NAN Ranch was excavated fairly recently, and due to Shafer’s
interest and ability to determine room functions (Shafer 2009), NAN Ranch is the
only site in the region where refined data concerning room function exists. This
enables me to obtain a more enhanced view of where oxidized bowls were
deposited in both the sacred and secular areas of the site and aids in my
examination of their intentional production. Most of the rooms at NAN Ranch
where oxidized vessels have been recovered functioned solely as habitations,
with the exception of rooms 12, 29, 39, 41, and 60. Room 60 was a storage room
added onto room 55 and was only accessible through that room. The remaining
rooms are all ceremonial areas, with all but room 39 being corporate kivas or
focal points for family rituals (Shafer 2003:69). At one earlier time, each of these
rooms may have also been used as habitations. Room 39 is identified as a
ceremonial room mainly due to its large floor size. Placement of oxidized vessels
in these ceremonial rooms (12, 29, 39, and 41) and in burials in these rooms is
suggestive of the same importance of these vessels as their reduced
counterparts.
Room 39 best demonstrates the equal presence of oxidized vessels to
the reduced bowls in a ceremonial room, although room 29 has an interesting
mortuary pattern. In room 39, two of the four vessels were oxidized. This
inclusion of oxidized bowls in ritual contexts and burials in ritual contexts
66
suggests that they were either ceramics used in rituals or were in some way
symbolic of a cosmology that would result in their use as burial goods. Either
way, their use and presence in these areas and contexts should speak for their
intentional manufacture; a vessel viewed as a mistake would not be placed in a
Mimbres burial, which is so standardized during the Classic period. Burials with
oxidized bowls in room 29 mainly placed along southern side of the room are
interesting, as both the Hopi and Zuni associate the color red with the South, and
thus red oxidized bowls could be a symbolic reference to the South or the sun
(DeBoer 2005; Shafer 2003:73).
The evidence concerning the temporal use and the ceremonial and burial
contexts (Table 4.3) of oxidized vessels rejects my previously stated expectations
concerning the intentionality of producing these vessels. If oxidized bowls were
in fact mistakes then they would be excluded from ceremonial and burial
contexts and be in roughly equivalent numbers throughout time. The majority of
oxidized vessels were of the Middle to Late Classic temporal style and in Middle
or Late Classic rooms (Table 4.2), suggesting an increase in their manufacture
and use. Instead of being in relatively similar amounts throughout time as I
expected, this pattern suggests that they were intentionally made due to the
increase in their production. It is also interesting to note that the temporal style
of oxidized bowls both predated and postdated the occupation dates of some
room such as 28 and 29, which suggests that the oxidized technological style
may have had quite a long span of use and/or was later in the Classic period
67
more associated with decommissioned ritual spaces. Oxidized vessels occurred
mainly in burials in both habitational and ceremonial contexts, and in similar
amounts to the reduced assemblage, suggesting that they were important
enough to not be excluded from these contexts.
Table 4.2. Numbers of Oxidized Vessels for Each Temporal Style.
Site Boldface Transitional Early Classic
Middle Classic
Late Classic
Total
NAN Ranch
1 3 10 15 3 32
Mattocks 9 0 5 12 3 20
Swarts 1 9 23 71 12 116
Cameron Creek
0 2 8 18 9 37
Galaz 3 10 17 65 22 117
Table 4.3. Numbers A of Oxidized Bowls in Their Contexts.
Site Burial Not Burial Unknown Total
NAN Ranch 22 3 7 32
Mattocks 12 3 5 20
Swarts 90 15 4 109
Cameron Creek
9 24 4 37
Galaz 101 4 5 110
Mattocks Site
Mattocks site has the smallest number of oxidized vessels of any of the
five sites used in this study. Of the 20 oxidized vessels archaeologists have
recovered at the Mattocks site (Table 4.1), only 12 have known location and
context data present in MimPIDD. Of the seven rooms from which oxidized
68
vessels have been recovered, we only know the construction and occupation
dates for three (433, 435, 441) of them. Due to its underlying Late Pithouse
component and the nearby great kiva, this room block was most likely
constructed in the Early Classic period, and the presence of Early Classic bowls
supports this view.
The construction sequence for the 400s room block is fairly well known,
and the room block was used for about two generations. According to tree-ring
dates, the earliest building began around A.D. 1079 (room 433), and the latest
cutting date is A.D. 1117 (room 438) (Gilman and LeBlanc n.d.). Room 433 was
part of the first construction phase and was abandoned about the time room
435 was built and occupied. Unit 441 is an unfinished pit structure and was the
last structure built. Unit 435 has the most burials and was burned, although it is
unclear if this was intentional or not. Those three rooms were most likely used
for habitation and have associated burials.
The potters might have been intentionally producing them at certain
places within the site. The majority of oxidized bowls (n=8, 67 percent) at the
Mattocks site can be found in the 400s room block, with room 435 having the
most oxidized vessels (n=6) (Figure 4.20). However, a pattern of the spatial
distribution of oxidized bowls is difficult to distinguish due to the relatively low
number of oxidized vessels present at the site. According to the data, oxidized
bowls were deposited in all room blocks, although there is only one fully oxidized
bowl recovered from room 43 of the 100s room block. For the most part, the
69
oxidized vessels are concentrated in the 400s room block and in the later rooms
of this block, such as room 433. Only two half-oxidized half-reduced vessels of
the eight total oxidized vessels with known locations were located in room 433
and 435. While this may suggest that oxidizing Classic bowls may have been a
fairly late phenomenon at the Mattocks site despite the earlier date of 433, it is
mostly a Late Classic site (Gilman and LeBlanc n.d.).
In essence, oxidized vessels at the Mattocks site occur only in rooms
occupied during the Middle and Late Classic periods (Figure 4.20), and the
majority of the oxidized vessels (73.6 percent) are of the Middle or Middle/Late
Classic temporal style (Table 4.2). This is quite an interesting pattern as I
expected there to be relatively similar amounts of “mistakes” through time,
which is again not the case at Mattocks. One cannot imagine that at the same
time Mimbres Classic Black-on-white bowl designs were reaching the zenith of
their complexity and skill level around A.D. 1000 (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:317-
318 that potters would suddenly be unable to fire pottery in the way they
intended. What seems to be a more plausible explanation for this increased
amount of oxidized vessels is that Mimbres potters were purposefully producing
more of them.
70
Figure 4.20. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the Mattocks site. The red dots indicate fully oxidized vessels and the black dots indicate half-oxidized and half-reduced vessels. Blue outlines indicate a Middle Classic construction date (A.D. 1060-1110), and purple a Late Classic date (A.D. 1100-1130).
Swarts Site
The only published report on the excavations at the Swarts site was done
by Cosgrove and Cosgrove in 1932. While at the time it was an exceptional
71
example of archaeological work, there is not a lot of useful information to glean
from it for this analysis. For instance, only Mimbres Boldface and Mimbres
Classic Black-on-white are distinguished in the report, and there is no mention of
the Transitional temporal style, which the Mimbres Foundation later defined.
Cosgrove and Cosgrove (1932:13) stated that the construction sequence or
stages of growth cannot be determined by the study of the masonry and
architecture since most of the adobe used in the walls is uniform in color and
later walls fuse into earlier walls. They lumped all of the above-ground pueblo
structures into the Classic period with no other distinction between them. They
did suggest room 72 in the North room block and rooms 11 and 28 in the South
room block were a few of the earlier rooms that other rooms were built around.
The Cosgroves made few attempts to assess or determine room function.
They did note that due to the presence of large elaborate covered storage bins in
room 68A this might have functioned as a storage room at one time. Also
because of its large floor area of 23 x 29 feet, the Cosgroves believed that room
76 in the North room block probably to have been used as a communal space
(Cosgrove and Cosgrove 1932:22). This is important to note because an oxidized
bowl was one of the four vessels recovered from this room, which again
indicates that they were not mistakes that must be excluded from a ritual space.
Both forms of oxidized vessels, i.e., fully (n=64) or half-oxidized and half-
reduced (n=46), occur fairly continuously across the North room block at Swarts
(Figure 4.21). For the most part, the two oxidized forms occur together in the
72
same rooms. However, the distribution of oxidized vessels in the South room
block is different. With the exception of the extremely large communal rooms
13, both types of oxidized vessels are restricted to the North half of the South
room block. There are two definable clusters in which half-oxidized and half-
reduced bowls were located, and they are the southwestern quarter and
northeastern quarter of the northern half of the South room block. In only four
rooms (20, 21, 28, and 31) in the southwestern quarter do the two oxidized
forms occur together. These clusters of both forms of oxidized vessels could
represent a potter workgroup in the South room block. However, it would be
fallacious to assume that just because a bowl was found someplace that it was
also made there as well. On the other hand, we cannot forget that Mimbres
potters made bowls for their own consumption and therefore the oxidized bowls
could have been used and discarded in the place of manufacture.
Both fully and half-oxidized vessels of all temporal styles from Boldface
through Late Classic are present at the Swarts site, which suggests a relatively
long use of the oxidized firing technique. However the majority of oxidized
vessels belong to the Middle Classic style. Because of the dearth of construction
information, archaeologists tentatively interpreted the occupation sequence of
from the temporal style of the Mimbres black-on-white vessels. While Middle
Classic style dominates (61.2 percent) the oxidized assemblage, many Early
(n=23) and Late Classic (n=12) vessels have also been recovered. This
corresponds well to temporal spread of oxidized bowls at the other sites.
73
Thus, while the construction sequence at the Swarts site is not well
defined we can infer that oxidized bowls were recovered from rooms that date
to each of the occupation dates for the entire site. We also know that while
both forms of oxidized bowls are present in both the southern and northern
room blocks, and while being spread fairly equally across the rooms in the
northern room block, the oxidized bowls are fairly restricted to the northern half
of the southern room block. The intra-site pattern of deposited half-oxidized
and half-reduced vessels in the in the southwestern quarter and northeastern
quarter of the northern half of the southern room block might suggest the
presence of a potters workgroup. While the temporal style of oxidized bowls
ranges from Boldface to Late Classic, the majority date to the Middle and Late
Classic design styles, which suggest that there was an influx in the manufacture
of oxidized vessels around A.D 1060 and 1130 (Shafer and Brewington 1995:7).
This pattern of an increase in oxidized vessels during the Middle Classic is
observable and has been noted at both NAN Ranch and Mattocks.
74
N
Figure 4.21. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the Swarts site. The red dots indicate fully oxidized vessels, and the black dots indicate half oxidized and half reduced vessels.
75
Cameron Creek Site
Cameron Creek has the second smallest number of oxidized vessels of the
five sites used in this study, with Mattocks having the smallest oxidized
assemblage. Of the 37 oxidized vessels, only eight have data on the recovery
location within the site. No data exist on the location or spatial distribution of
the half-oxidized and half-reduced vessels (n=9). In terms of the vessels for
which we have room numbers, there seems to be a clustering in the southern
half of the North room block and in the northern half of the South room block
(Figure 4.22). Perhaps these represent workgroups, although at this point the
data are inconclusive due to the relatively few oxidized bowls with locational
data.
Because of the amount of stone borrowed from rooms to construct new
ones, Bradfield (1931:20) concluded that all of the East room block, the eastern
half of the South room block, and the southern half of the North room block
were the earliest structures to have been built, occupied, abandoned, and from
which building stone was scavenged. This somewhat correlates with the location
of completely oxidized Mimbres vessels. Half (49 percent) of the total 37
oxidized vessels are Middle Classic, although unit 112 in the North room block
contained a Late Classic bowl. This is most likely the result of a later intrusive
Classic burial. Two oxidized vessels also were from the western half of the South
room block. According to Bradfield (1931), the West room block was the last
76
built and was only occupied for a short time before the abandonment of the
entire site. It is interesting to note that no oxidized vessels were recovered
there, possibly indicating that the technological style of firing vessels in oxidizing
environments was no longer practiced at the site.
Bradfield (1931) mentioned very little about room function, but he did
identify five ceremonial rooms based on their unique architecture and
construction. Two of those (17 and 112) were finely plastered and contained
two hearths each (Bradfield 1931:25-26) as well as an Early and Late Classic
completely oxidized bowl each (MA 1067 and 1127). If these rooms are indeed
used at some time as ceremonial rooms, it is interesting that oxidized vessels
were placed in burials under their floors, just like their reduced counterparts,
again contradicting the conception that they were firing mistakes.
When we consider the temporal spread and the temporal style of
oxidized vessels at Cameron Creek, it is the only site that does not have Boldface
style oxidized vessels. However, just like the previously examined sites above,
oxidized vessels belonging to the Middle and Late Classic temporal styles (67.56
percent) dominates the oxidized assemblage (Table 4.2). Again this influx during
the Middle Classic speaks to the intentional production of these vessels
otherwise we would see relatively similar and low amounts throughout time.
In sum, it is difficult to determine any spatial pattern of oxidized vessels
at this site as we only have locational data for eight fully oxidized vessels and no
locational data for the nine half-oxidized and half-reduced bowls. There may be
77
a clustering of oxidized vessels in the northern half of the South room block and
in the southern half of the North room block. The southern half of the North
room block may have been one of the earliest structures and while oxidized
bowls are present in those areas none are of Boldface style. Also interesting, is
that the West room block was most likely built last yet we have not recovered
any oxidized vessels from that block. At least two oxidized vessels were
recovered from what Bradfield (1931) deems to be ceremonial rooms, which
suggest that these vessels are not excluded from important ritual contexts. As
with all of the other sites, the majority of oxidized vessels are of Middle to Late
Classic temporal style.
78
Figure 4.22. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the Cameron Creek site. The red dots indicate fully oxidized vessels.
N
79
Galaz Site
Oxidized vessels occur in room blocks belonging to every construction
episode, and they cover the spectrum of temporal styles from Boldface to Late
Classic, with an influx in rooms built at a time that overlaps with the Middle
Classic temporal style. This continuity of oxidized production style through time
is mirrored in all room blocks with the exception of the North room block and
the heavily looted North Eastern room block, and we therefore do not know if
oxidized bowls were deposited there.
The sequence of occupation and abandonment is not well known for the
North room block. There may have been three initial clusters of rooms 19 and
29, rooms 62 and 45, and then rooms in the extreme northern part of the room
block. Not contested is the fact that rooms 84 and 85 were probably
contemporaneous, as were rooms 15 and 19, and rooms 33, 62, 45, due to their
similar floor depths (Anyon and LeBlanc 1984:109).
For the most part, the majority, 56 percent, of the oxidized vessels
recovered from all rooms fall into the Middle Classic style. However, room 15
near rooms 19 and 29 contained vessels of Transitional through Late Classic
styles, and rooms 84, 85, and 42A produced Transitional through Middle Classic
vessels. This suggests that there is some time depth apparent in the use of
oxidization on Mimbres pottery in the North room block.
Anyon and LeBlanc (1984) identified five room blocks on the Galaz site,
and some such as the South room block were completely excavated. The initial
80
core group of rooms in the South room block consisted of rooms 49, 70, 76, 79,
81, and 82, with 70A and 76A clearly being the earliest (Anyon and LeBlanc
1984:100). In the second construction episode, rooms 86, 87, 89, 90, and 91
were added to the south with rooms 71 and 74 added to the north.
Anyon and LeBlanc (1984:102) define what they consider to be three
room groups in the West room block. In the first group, rooms 17, 20, 113 and
possibly 118 formed the core group onto which later additions such as 8A and 83
were constructed. The core cluster of the second group consisted of 97A, 108A,
109A, 111A, 115A, and 117A. Room 114 was an early addition and was
constructed while the core rooms were still being used and occupied. The third
group consists of detached rooms to the north of the second group, and their
construction sequence is difficult to determine. For the most part, the temporal
styles of the oxidized vessels supports the construction sequence with Middle
and Late Classic vessels in the added rooms 8A and 83, and with
Transitional/Early Classic vessels recovered in the core rooms 108, 109, and 111.
The building sequence in the East room block is clouded by the
superimposed Postclassic component and the inexperience of the excavators.
Anyon and LeBlanc (1984:110) describe three different levels of floors (lower,
middle, and upper) which may be indicative of building sequences. Oxidized
vessels are present in all three levels. The temporal types of oxidized vessels
recovered from these rooms correlate fairly well with the floor levels. Room 21
with a floor in the lower level contained Early Classic oxidized and reduced
81
vessels and one Middle Classic oxidized vessel, while room 36 in the middle level
included only Middle or Late Classic vessels, and rooms 32A-D in the upper level
contained Middle and Late Classic oxidized bowls. This site also demonstrates
the continuous use of the oxidized technological style throughout time from
Boldface to Classic, as well as an influx of both fully and half-oxidized vessels of
Middle to Late Classic style and occupation dates for rooms. That influx
viewable in Table 4.2 contradicts the assumption that mistakes would not be
temporally patterned and would remain in relatively constant amounts through
time.
Special structures such as communal or ceremonial rooms exist in the
South, West, and North room blocks (Figure 4.23). Room 79 in the South room
block contained a cache of artifacts and had the greatest burial density for that
room group. Together, these facts illustrate a special significance of the room,
and we can infer that the oxidized vessels (n=7) interred in that room and that all
were placed in burials also share that significance. Although only eight of the
black-on-white bowls deposited in that room are oxidized, the important point is
that they were not excluded from the same contexts as their reduced
counterparts.
Rooms 52 and 49 contained burials with oxidized bowls as well as
reduced bowls, and these rooms are contiguous with room 53, which due to its
size is thought to be a communal structure (Anyon and LeBlanc 1984). Seven of
the 14 painted bowls deposited in room 49 were oxidized. This might also
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indicate relative similar importance for oxidized vessels to reduced vessels.
Room 8A located in the West room cluster is thought to be one of many large
surface communal rooms present at the site, because its floor area is greater
than 26 square meters (Anyon and LeBlanc 1984:139), and three oxidized vessels
were recovered from there. Room 15 in the North room block also qualifies as a
communal structure due to the large size of its floor area. Rooms 15, 62, 84, and
85 in the North room block were all partially burned, and whether this burning
was an intentional part of the abandonment process is currently unknown.
Room 42A is not only a very large room initially constructed in the Three Circle
phase, but it also contains six sipapus, a sandbox, and an assortment of burials
which attests to its significance (Anyon and LeBlanc 1984:122). In all of the
special rooms discussed in this paragraph, oxidized bowls were recovered in
burial contexts and in similar numbers to their reduced counterparts, which
renders the notion that these vessels were “mistakenly” fired inadequate
because “mistakes” would not be placed in such important contexts.
In sum, oxidized bowls, both fully and half-oxidized, were recovered from
every construction episode of the site and exhibit attributes of every temporal
style from Boldface to Late Classic. For the most part the temporal style of the
bowls correlates to the occupation date of the room from which it was
recovered. Just like the other four sites previously mentioned, the majority of
oxidized bowls are of Middle to Late Classic temporal style (Table 4.2), and again
this increase is consistent with the notion that these oxidized vessels were
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intentionally produced. Also, the fact that oxidized bowls are not excluded from
both burials and ceremonial room contexts at Galaz suggests that they were at
least as important as their reduced counterparts to those in the Mimbres region.
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Figure 4.23. The spatial distribution of oxidized vessels at the Galaz site. The red dots indicate fully oxidized vessels, and the black dots indicate half-oxidized and half-reduced vessels.
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Summary and Implications of the Differences in Variables among Assemblages, Sites, and Time Periods
I conducted a chi-square analysis comparing the reduced and oxidized
assemblages in terms of shape, design style, design layout, temporal style, use
wear, archaeological context, and age of the individual with which the vessel was
buried, to determine if there were statistically significant differences between
them. The chi-square analyses demonstrated that oxidized vessels differ from
their reduced counterparts in amount of use wear, which could be attributed to
differences in wear at each site, rather than a correlation with differences in
perceptions of values placed on the bowls. However, it is difficult to infer
whether people in the Mimbres region used a bowl more intensively because it
had less significant meaning or used it longer causing the bowl to display more
wear because it was more meaningful. The only other significant difference was
when the age of the associated individual was considered. There was a greater
frequency of old adults and infants with oxidized rather than reduced bowls, and
perhaps this is influenced by ideology, and that the extremely young or old were
associated with the color red.
This analysis demonstrated that Mimbres oxidized bowls were
intentionally produced with a red color in mind and that they should not be
considered firing mistakes. Eighty percent of Mimbres oxidized bowls were
placed within burials (Table 4.2), and 78.5 percent of the oxidized bowls had kill-
holes, which are also probably symbolic or of ritual significance. This supports
the notion that Mimbres oxidized bowls were intentionally and consistently
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produced by those who used them, or else they would not appear in those
contexts in such high proportions. Also, oxidized bowls were not made in the
same numbers throughout the occupation of the Mimbres Valley. Their
numbers grew steadily until the Middle Classic period when they reached their
maximum numbers, and then they declined in the Late Classic (Table 4.2), and
this pattern is observable at each site in the present study. Again, this supports
my hypothesis that oxidized bowls were intentionally fired in oxidizing
environments, because the numbers of oxidized bowls produced do not remain
constant through time.
My examination of the spatial distribution of the oxidized bowls at each
of the five sites in the study was quite revealing in terms of patterns. It
demonstrated that where ceremonial rooms are present, oxidized bowls, like
their reduced counterparts, are also present and in roughly similar proportions.
The fact that oxidized bowls are present in burial contexts in both habitation and
ceremonial rooms alongside their reduced counterparts is intriguing. Also
intriguing is that oxidized bowls are not excluded from these contexts and occur
in relatively equal amounts to reduced bowls. This supports my hypothesis that
these bowls were intentionally produced in oxidizing environments possibly for
uses similar to reduced bowls, which are often found in special contexts.
According to Bradfield (1931), the West room block of Cameron Creek
was the last built and was only occupied for a short time before the
abandonment of the entire site, coinciding with the reorganization of the
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Mimbres region during the Postclassic period (Hegmon 2002:328). It is
interesting to note that no oxidized vessels were recovered there. Although
admittedly this is speculative, perhaps this lack signals the end and ultimate
failure of the ideology or religion in the Mimbres area, and the end of oxidization
as a symbolic reference to that religion.
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Chapter 5
Color Symbolism and Its Relationship to Esoteric Knowledge
Having demonstrated in the previous chapter that the oxidized bowls
were intentionally fired to achieve red painted designs, the next logical step
would be to ask why Mimbres potters did this. Although purely aesthetic
reasons cannot be ruled out, it is more likely that the red on the oxidized bowls
functioned in some symbolic way, thus framing the importance of the oxidized
bowls and their intentional creation within the specific social, ritual, and
economic contexts of the Mimbres potters. The concept of agency, as used by
archaeologists, will be applied here. While this interpretation is interesting and
of possible significant potential for the future, it is just a working hypothesis and
could be one of many alternative explanations for the intentional oxidization of
Mimbres bowls.
While there may be an indefinite number of meanings for the color red in
the minds of those in the Mimbres Valley, I will discuss a few from both the
Pueblo and Mesoamerican world, as we have evidence for Mimbres interaction
with both of them. My contention is that the color red was a reference to some
part of a cosmology or worldview possibly inspired by a worldview present in
Mesoamerica, that the oxidizing technological style that produces the color red
was a way in which Mimbres potters communicated their special knowledge of
that cosmology, and that they produced vessels in this manner to demonstrate
that they were holders of esoteric knowledge and thus deserving of a special
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status. I support this statement with a discussion of the unequal access to ritual
present in the Mimbres region in terms of ritual birds such as macaws and access
to actual ritual architecture. Also discussed is the efficacy of “outside”
knowledge such as Mesoamerican cosmologies and possible derived meanings
for the color red, as well as the evidence we have for a Mesoamerican
connection with the Mimbres region.
An often cited answer concerning the meaning of the color red, is that
the color red could represent the sun. Scarlet macaws are red and considered to
be solar birds based on their bright coloring (Creel and McKusick 1994:511;
Thompson and Brown 2006). To the Maya, a culture that probably interacted
with groups in the Southwest, red does symbolize blood, or the East and the
rising sun, as well as “great” (Houston et al. 2009:71). DeBoer (2005:72) notes
that the color red is most often associated with the South for the Hopi and Zuni
and with the East for the Maya and Zapotecs. At this time, it is impossible to
discern whether the color red was a reference the East or the South to those
living in the Mimbres region. However, red on bowls could be a reference to
groups south of the Mimbres Valley from which they obtained exotic birds, an
origin story, and other esoteric knowledge such as songs or how to handle and
train birds. The presence of oxidized bowls in burials and ceremonial rooms
further suggests they had some ritual importance or at least the same
significance as their reduced counterparts.
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It is my contention that oxidized bowls and the color red referenced a
cosmology or worldview for the people in the Mimbres region and that this
allusion to that cosmology or myth could have given the maker a special status
as a holder of esoteric knowledge. Aldenderfer (1993) suggests that
communication of esoteric knowledge such as that concerning the supernatural,
perhaps through the material culture, can be a “pathway to power” and prestige
for individuals. For Helms (2000:1), people can create their connections and
involvements with the wider realms of the sacred and mysterious by
aesthetically representing their knowledge or supernatural experiences. Thus,
iconography in the form of carvings, engravings, paintings, and the like can
indicate an individual’s strategy to communicate an understanding of esoteric
knowledge or supernatural experiences.
I argue that oxidized bowls and the color red functioned as part of a
cosmology or world view for the people in the Mimbres region and that a
reference to that cosmology could have given the maker a special status as a
holder of esoteric knowledge. People depend on their cosmology to explain
events that happen and to rationalize their place in the world. Thus,
cosmologies and references to them have very real and compelling power.
While we cannot always view cosmologies archaeologically, we can see symbolic
references to them in the material culture.
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Pertinent to this discussion is Helms’ argument concerning individuals
who are motivated to travel long distances because, in prehistoric Panama
societies, she proposed that geographical distance was equated in the minds of
people with vertical distance into the dangerous and uncertain supernatural
(Helms 1991:337). It is through the act of traveling geographic distances that,
like shamans or priests, long-distance travelers deal with exceptional
phenomena and power-filled and possibly sacred things. Thus, items associated
with long-distance travel and exchange such as foreign songs, stories, ritual
knowledge, or novelty objects could be avenues through which an individual
could communicate the mastery of the “uncontrolled” outside world. Helms
(1991:338) assumed from her extensive ethnographic research that a universal
baseline belief in the superior ritual efficacy of “outside or foreign” things
existed in the prehistoric Americas. Acceptance of this assumption would
provide a valuable lens through which to interpret archaeological objects such as
oxidized bowls and the reasons for their intentional and consistent creation.
It is within this framework of viewing geographical distance and things
associated with it that I think the color red and oxidized vessels functioned. Due
to the already highly charged symbolism of reduced black-on-white vessels and
their association with the dead, the best avenue to have an innovation accepted
not just by other painters but also the community as a whole would be to allude
to and demonstrate one’s knowledge of the supernatural or foreign myths. Also,
if LeBlanc (2006:146) is correct in asserting that the few potters in the Mimbres
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region were in fact in competition with each other, then displaying their
knowledge of myths or cosmological references could have been an intentional
strategy that gave them a definite edge towards greater distinction or prestige in
society. The higher frequency of oxidized bowls during the Middle Classic period
suggests that oxidizing vessels was well accepted and became an innovation that
was reproduced in greater numbers during that time.
Unequal Access to Ritual
Not everyone can be a holder of specific esoteric or special knowledge
and thus have the prestige that possession of such knowledge entails. Perhaps
the knowledge that oxidized bowls referenced with their red color allowed their
makers to gain that same prestige. We have ample evidence concerning
restricted ritual knowledge, such as the use and training of macaws by women
(Munson 2000:138), and the unequal access to ritual such as differential access
to kivas and thus ceremonies (Clayton 2006). According to Creel and McKusick
(1994:522), parrots and “macaws in particular evidently were of special
ceremonial importance, such as sacrifices for the vernal equinox, as indicated by
consistent age at death, probably reflecting sacrifice in the spring, and by
deliberate intramural burial, often in special rooms in the community.” Their
brightly colored feathers, possibly symbolic of the sun, may also have been a
reason they were acquired (Creek and McKusick 1994:511). Interestingly, Creel
also notes that bird burials do not occur at all sites occupied during the Classic
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period in the Mimbres region, which suggests that there was some level of ritual
control over them, and not all people inhabiting the sites with macaws had
access to this knowledge or the birds themselves.
There is evidence of Mimbres women possibly having certain short-term
situational ritual status (Munson 2000:138) because of their possession of
esoteric knowledge concerning the raising and training of parrots and macaws
for ceremonies, and women are most often depicted as the only human figures
associated with these birds on the Classic Mimbres bowls. Like women training
parrots and macaws, potters could also have had special distinction in society. If
we follow the assumption that individual artists may have been competing with
each other (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:316; LeBlanc 2006:146), then an
association of the potter’s work with mythological and cosmological concepts
may have gained that person admiration and potential status as a holder of
“esoteric knowledge” (Munson 2000:140). There is also evidence that the
potters in the Mimbres region were female, as Munson notes a depiction of
women forming and painting a pot (Munson 2000:137). The presence of a
“female potter’s grave” at NAN Ranch also supports this notion (Shafer and
Brewington 1995:27).
Clayton (2006:75) states that ritual inequality was consistently present
during Classic period due to the location of small Classic kivas in relation to
specific room blocks, which suggests that only particular individuals or segments
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of communities had access to formal ceremonial spaces such as these kivas and
large rooms that could accommodate segments of the community. However,
others such as Gilman (2006) consider that these small pit structures were only
used for habitation. If ritual inequality was present during oxidized pottery
production, then potters could demonstrate their unique knowledge through the
use of color symbolism and iconography referencing myths.
Mesoamerica and Ritual Efficacy of the “Outside” and Its Relation to Oxidized Bowls
It is my contention that the Mesoamerican world provided Mimbres
potters with ritual knowledge and an inspired origin story that could have
allowed certain potters to communicate special knowledge such as a symbolic
meaning of red to the rest of the community. Mesoamerican knowledge or
knowledge derived from that region would be a perfect example of the ritual
efficacy of things outside the Mimbres world, and this efficacy is demonstrated
in the form of exotic birds from Mexico being used in ceremonies and in the
Mesoamerican inspired motifs on the painted pottery such as the Hero Twins
from the Popol Vuh.
Evidence does exist for trade and interaction between Mimbres groups
and Mesoamerican groups to the south (Shafer 1995:44). Macaws from
Mesoamerica were imported into the Mimbres region perhaps as early as the
Late Pithouse period (A.D. 800-950; (Creel and McKusick 1994:511; Wyckoff
2009). Archaeologists have recovered skeletal remains of nine scarlet macaws
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(Ara macao), one military macaw (Ara militaris), five thick-billed parrots
(Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha), and seven unidentified macaws/parrots from
Mimbres contexts dating from the Pithouse to the Classic period (Creel and
McKusick 1994:511). This is important as the military and scarlet macaws are
non-native to New Mexico, and Wyckoff (2008) has suggested that the native
habitat from which these birds were acquired could have been the Huasteca
region of Mexico as it is the closest natural habitat of scarlet macaws (Figure
5.1).
Figure 5.1. The Mimbres Valley in relation to the natural habitat of macaws and parrots (Wyckoff 2009).
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Southwestern archaeologists (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:319; Thompson
1999) have suggested that the iconography present on many of the Classic
Black-on-white vessels, including images of emergence, death, and the
underworld, mythological figures such as the Hero Twins, and women handling
parrots and macaws are references to a unique origin story and thus represent
ties with the Mesoamerican world. Some archaeologists (Nelson 2010:12;
Schaafsma 1999) have noted the presence of horned serpents on Mimbres black-
on-white and polychrome bowls and Creel (1989:73) suggests the possibility of a
red Aztec deity Tlaloc on rock art at the NAN Ranch site. As the Aztec culture is
much later than the Mimbres, this iconography hints at earlier ties with
Mesoamerican groups, such as those that influenced the Aztecs.
Hegmon and Kulow (2005:319) suggest that Mimbres potters painted
naturalistic images of everyday life, as well as mythical figures. Others such as
Brody (1977) and Thompson (1999) assert that they can identify some of images
metaphorically referencing the Hero Twins mythology and different segments of
the stories known in the Mayan Popol Vuh.
Summary
It is this interactive environment with borrowed Mesoamerica elements
from the Hero Twins saga, the acquisition of parrots and macaws, and the other
Mesoamerican derived iconography such as red Tlaloc-like images that created
the unique setting in which oxidized pottery was made and used. Other
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elements such as unequal access to ritual or esoteric knowledge could have
affected what Mimbres potters, possibly female, chose to depict and in which
design layouts or combination of motifs. If there was a cultural meaning for the
color red that was easily accessible to all viewers such as a direction or a
cosmological reference, then this, too, would have led to its acceptance and to a
more prestigious position for the maker as a person possessing some esoteric
knowledge.
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Chapter 6
Oxidized Vessels and Intentionality
Archaeologists have not previously examined the variation in the firing
atmosphere and the resulting colors of paint on Mimbres black-on-white bowls.
Many of these archaeologists have dismissed red oxidized bowls as examples of
incomplete firing events or as over-fired mistakes. The thought that these
vessels were intentionally fired in this manner has not been of concern. I instead
propose that these bowls were intentionally and consistently fired, fully or half,
in oxidizing environments, and that this type of firing can be conceived of as a
technological style distinct from the style of reduced black-on-white bowls.
To evaluate this hypothesis, I tested for the patterns that I expected
mistakenly fired pottery to display. The vessels considered mistakes by their
makers and users would not be found in highly symbolic ritual or ceremonial
contexts or at least not in similar proportions to reduced vessels, although
reduced vessels compose a great part of the entire ceramic assemblage. I also
proposed that the relative frequency of pottery mistakes would be fairly
consistent through time and across sites and thus would be relatively un-
patterned. My final expectation was that mistakes would hold less social
meaning and thus might display more use wear.
I discussed the technology of Mimbres ceramic production in bonfire
settings to illustrate intentionality and the level of skill involved in regulating
temperature and atmosphere. As Shafer (2009:177) notes, a reduced effect
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could be achieved by placing a vessel face-down, thereby preventing oxygen
from reaching the surface, and that an opposite oxidized effect could be
achieved by placing a vessel upright. It seems unlikely that a vessel would
“accidently” be placed upright prior to being fired. Half-oxidized and half-
reduced vessels present the best evidence of the intentional manufacture of
oxidized vessels. This effect required a specialized tool, more set-up steps, or
both along with the required knowledge integral to successfully firing vessels. A
sherd would have to be placed on the interior, preventing oxygen from reaching
the surface, half of the vessel would have to be buried, or the vessel would have
to be partially re-fired to attain this half-red and half-black result. Using any of
these methods, it seems unlikely that potters would take these steps if they had
a different end result in mind.
To support my hypothesis that oxidized bowls were intentionally and
consistently made, it is important to apply the theory of agency within structure
when interpreting the data. While social reproductions and meanings are
embedded in material culture and it is important to consider individual creativity
in this dynamic social process, it is essential to consider how tradition and
structure affect and in turn are affected by innovation and creativity. At some
level, individuals are conscious of structure and how they can move within and
reproduce or alter it, and this affects their motives, the choices they make, and
how those motives are manifested in the material culture.
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I suggest that just as painted designs can be an instantiation of agency
and innovation, then so can firing atmosphere. However, this innovation is
shaped by the design tradition and the social structure governing pottery making
in the Mimbres region, which causes the innovator to consider what design
elements, layout, or combination he or she will alter or repeat. Part-time
pottery specialists could be in competition with each other and greatly impact
the overall design tradition. However, the highly charged symbolic nature of
Mimbres bowls including the iconography, kill-holes, and burial contexts
suggests that any innovation must be accepted not only by other potters, but by
the community as a whole. Perhaps the best way to have an innovation be
accepted and reproduced was to add elements that related to cosmologies or
the supernatural to supplement this symbolic nature of vessels.
My data set consisted of 326 fully and half-oxidized bowls from the five
most excavated and best documented sites in the Mimbres region: Cameron
Creek, Galaz, Mattocks, NAN Ranch, and Swarts. The Mimbres Pottery Image
Digital Database was the source of the photos and data I collected. I created two
datasets, one of oxidized vessels, and the other of reduced vessels to compare
the two assemblages in terms of vessel shape, temporal style, design class,
design layout, use wear, archaeological context, and age of associated individual
if it was a burial. These variables allowed me to test my expectations previously
mentioned and to detect any relevant culturally conditioned patterns between
the assemblages or across time and space.
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The results of my chi-square analysis were intriguing. There were no
statistically significant differences between the two assemblages where bowl
shape, design layout, design class, proportions of bowls with kill holes, or burial
context were concerned. There were differences in use wear amounts between
the two assemblages, but how this relates to perceptions of value and meaning
is unclear. It could be that oxidized vessels exhibited higher amounts of heavy
wear at some sites because their meaning was not as significant as their reduced
counterparts, or because that meaning was more significant and so the bowls
were used longer, thus producing more wear. There were also differences in the
age of the individuals with whom oxidized and reduced bowls were associated.
Old adults, infants, and children were more often associated with oxidized
vessels, but whether this is a cultural pattern relating to some ideology
concerning death is not certain. The limited data relating to the age of the
skeleton and the almost non-existent skeletal data for some sites such as
Cameron Creek makes me wonder if this pattern is the result of sampling.
Half-oxidized vessels and the significant differences from their fully
oxidized counterparts perhaps represents a highly visible level of intentionality
with regards to Mimbres ceramic production. Chi-square analysis suggests that
half-oxidized vessels were more often taller and wider than fully oxidized vessels,
more frequently exhibited painted designs of geometric rather than naturalistic
motifs, and displayed a four section symmetrical layout rather than a center
oriented figure. I suggest that these are all indicators of particular choices made
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that would make the idealized final product of a dualistic symmetrical half-
oxidized and half-reduced vessel easier to achieve.
There are observable patterns in oxidized vessels across time and space
that also suggest intentionality. Maps of the sites were created to visually
compare occupation dates of rooms to the temporal style of vessels placed in
them. Instead of oxidized vessels being relatively consistent in numbers across
time, as would be the case if there were firing mistakes, most of the oxidized
vessels are of the Middle and Late Classic temporal styles and are placed in
rooms occupied in relatively the same time frame. This seems to indicate that
people in the Mimbres region were purposefully producing, using, and
depositing more oxidized vessels during these periods. Oxidized vessels were
also patterned across space. They occurred in burials 80 percent of the time,
were not excluded from ceremonial rooms or structures, and occurred in both
contexts in relatively similar proportions to their reduced counterparts.
I interpreted this patterning of oxidized vessels and therefore the color
red in terms of intentionality and meaning within the structure of pottery
production and the symbolic structure governing that production. Many
meanings could be attached to the color red, and it could be associated with the
sun and macaws, as the latter are considered solar birds, or directions such as
south or east that are part of a cosmology.
It is my contention that oxidized bowls could be competing Mimbres
potters’ material communication of esoteric knowledge of the supernatural,
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origin stories, or outside knowledge that they purposefully manipulated for
prestige reasons. The highly charged symbolic contexts governing Mimbres
pottery may have limited the available avenues for innovation in pottery
production. There is evidence of unequal access to ritual and knowledge in the
Mimbres world such as limited access to kivas and ceremonies and ritually
important ceremonial birds such as macaws. There is also evidence that
Mesoamerica could have been the source for some of the borrowed ideological
elements and outside-inspired ritual knowledge probably illustrated on Mimbres
black-on-white bowls. There are exotic birds such as macaws buried at sites in
the Mimbres region, as well as Mesoamerican derived iconography such as the
Hero Twins and Tlaloc painted on Mimbres bowls and rock art. Perhaps the
ritual efficacy of the outside knowledge of Mesoamerican-inspired myths and
cosmologies allowed potters to intentionally communicate their esoteric
knowledge within the design style just by altering the color of the paint.
Implications Concerning Intentionality
Being used in domestic settings would allow the designs and colors
depicted on the vessels to be seen and their possible symbolic references to be
experienced, and I think that oxidized and reduced bowls were used in these
ways. There appear to be few differences between the oxidized and reduced
assemblages, and this might suggest that the oxidized bowls were no different
from their reduced counterparts and should not be considered separately. I
argue that this relative lack of differences between the two assemblages is a
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strategy on the part of the potters to get their oxidized firing style adopted by
having color as the only variable that deviates from the design tradition. Thus,
the novelty of oxidized painted bowls could be more easily introduced to the
other potters and the rest of the community, allowing it to be incorporated into
the overall standardized Classic Mimbres design tradition as an innovation, while
not “rocking the boat” (Hegmon and Kulow 2005:319). I also argue that oxidized
vessels could have had symbolic and cosmological meaning tied to their
intentional creation that gave those potters an elevated status as holders of
esoteric knowledge.
Future Research
This thesis was somewhat limited by only having access to photographs,
and future research such as paste analysis, chemical sourcing, oxidization
analysis, firing experimentation, examining colors on other artifacts or features
such as rock art, would be useful. While I was unable to visit collections and
analyze the pastes of some of the oxidized vessels recovered from the five sites
in my study area, this would be an avenue to further evaluate the hypothesis I
have discussed here. If the paste of the sherds was completely and uniformly
oxidized, then this might suggest that the bowls were intentionally fired in
oxidizing atmospheres rather than being mistakes and the result of the potter’s
inability to regulate the draft and atmosphere of the firing event. Oxidization
analysis similar to the one conducted by Beck and Neff (2007) could be used to
determine if similar clays with similar concentrations of iron oxides were used to
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produce the oxidized as opposed to reduced vessels or if only certain clays were
targeted.
It would be interesting to conduct an experiment that would test how
Mimbres potters may have achieved the half-oxidized half-reduced effect
present on many of my sampled bowls. There are a few scenarios that could
have been used to achieve a red and black effect with the open-air bonfire type
of ceramic firing. First, the bowl could be placed on its side and buried so that
half of the painted design is protected from the drafts of the bonfire. It would
only be removed from its location after the fire had completely cooled. Second,
and perhaps more likely, a large sherd or a bowl slightly smaller in size could be
placed partially inside of another bowl, thereby preventing draft and oxygen
from reaching and oxidizing the paint on a portion of the bowl.
We also cannot rule out the possibility that the bowls were re-fired in a
separate firing event. Perhaps they were re-fired as a “renewal” episode
described by Crown and Wills (2003:512). However, it would be difficult to
conclude this if the temperature in the subsequent firings did not exceed the
maximum temperature from the first firing, since there would be no observable
differences in the paste such as alterations in color, thickness, and hardness as
the clay and aplastic minerals in the paste respond to the higher temperature
(Crown and Wills 2003:515). Future studies could evaluate which one of these
techniques is the most effective and least difficult to perform. The difficulties
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and decisions concerning the most effective strategy for producing these vessels
would be most telling and enlightening as to why oxidation was practiced.
To enhance our understanding of the color system used by people in the
Mimbres region, it would be worthwhile to consider the use of color in general.
What colors were painted or naturally appear on Mimbres artifacts, and are
certain colors limited to specific artifact types or placement on those artifacts?
Rock art analysis should also be included in such an analysis as Creel (1989:73)
notes a red anthropomorphic pictograph at NAN-94linguis.
While I have demonstrated that this oxidized firing technique flourished
and was used the most during the Middle and Late Classic periods, it was present
as part of both the Boldface and Transitional styles, although less frequently.
The Three Circle Red-on-white style (A.D. 650-750/830) could have been a
source of inspiration or a model for the oxidized firing style (Shafer and
Brewington 1995:10). Indeed, there are many similarities in design motifs
between Three Circle and Boldface, and Shafer and Brewington (1995:10) state
that the Three Circle style began the white-slipped tradition in the Mimbres
area. However, an examination of the paste of the oxidized bowls would be
necessary to see if any similarities exist between Three Circle Red-on-white and
oxidized Mimbres black-on-white. It is possible that both these red colored
styles were independent inventions or innovations in Mimbres ceramic style.
According to my analysis, NAN Ranch had the greatest numbers of
oxidized bowls that belonged to the Transitional and Early Classic temporal
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styles. Perhaps it was the originator or source of the oxidized firing style that
was later accepted and adopted over the entire Mimbres region. While it is
interesting to consider, that is a topic for another paper and one with extensive
sourcing data. Creel (2012) suggests that, based on his whole vessel sourcing
data, pottery manufacture was concentrated in the northern sites of the
Mimbres Valley during the Classic period, and that not all sites produced the
majority of their vessels. It would be interesting if the pattern of oxidized vessel
production differs in any way from the patterns that Creel has observed, and if
there were only some sites in the region producing black-on-white vessels in
oxidizing atmospheres.
Importance of this Research
By placing the concept of agency and an individual potter’s intentionality
into the structure of material culture in a way that acknowledges the social,
ritual, and economic contexts in which Mimbres potters lived, I join the ranks of
recent and relevant archaeologists who are attempting to investigate and
elucidate notions of power and ideology in past societies. This thesis is also
relevant and novel in that it goes beyond determining that past groups had color
symbolism and states that material culture references a symbolic system,
through the use of a unique technological style that produced the color red.
While Mimbres society is generally thought to be egalitarian or at the very least
not differentiated by wealth in burials (Gilman 1990), this view of material
culture and oxidized vessels as a potter’s communication of esoteric knowledge,
108
which in turn could be an avenue for prestige and possible differences in social
status, adds depth to our current knowledge of Mimbres society.
109
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115
Appendix 1
Data Set by Site
Site Vessel #
Amount Oxidized
Temporal Style
Design Class Context Room # Burial #
Cameron Creek
584 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic unknown unknown
Cameron Creek
640 Half Late Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Cameron Creek
643 Fully Middle Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Cameron Creek
1041 Fully Late Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1057 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1059 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1061 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1067 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic burial 17 17/2
Cameron Creek
1073 Fully Early Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1078 Half Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1127 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 112 112/5
Cameron Creek
1135 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 1 ½
Cameron Creek
1154 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 23 23/2
Cameron Creek
1187 Fully Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1195 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 53 53/3
Cameron Creek
1202 Fully Early Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1230 Half Early Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1239 Fully Late Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1269 Fully Early Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1310 Fully Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1312 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 119 119/9
Cameron Creek
1359 Half Transitional Geometric burial 137 137/4
Cameron Creek
1507 Half Late Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1514 Fully Early Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1561 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown
116
Cameron Creek
1566 Fully Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1570 Fully Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
1580 Half Middle Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Cameron Creek
3141 Fully Transitional Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
5815 Fully Early Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
6179 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 60 60/5
Cameron Creek
7916 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 7 7/4
Cameron Creek
7917 Half Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
7926 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
7928 Half Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
7929 Fully Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Cameron Creek
7931 Half Late Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Galaz 114 Fully Transitional Geometric unknown unknown
Galaz 565 Fully Middle Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Galaz 2251 Fully Boldface Geometric burial 29 6-23
Galaz 2761 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic burial W83 15-288
Galaz 2765 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic burial unknown 15-426
Galaz 2771 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 36 2-295
Galaz 2773 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 24 2-174
Galaz 2780 Middle/ Late Classic
Naturalistic not burial unknown
Galaz 2783 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 36 2-272
Galaz 2793 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 3 2-15
Galaz 2794 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic burial 8A 2-74
Galaz 2795 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic burial 36 2-289
Galaz 2821 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic unknown unknown
Galaz 2823 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 87 15-94
Galaz 2829 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 87 15-113
Galaz 2830 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 85A 15-104
Galaz 2832 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial N81 15-26
Galaz 2839 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 84 15-96
Galaz 2840 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial unknown 15-429
Galaz 2841 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial unknown 15-372
Galaz 2851 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 84A 15-129
Galaz 2853 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 79 15-51
Galaz 2856 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic burial 80 15-50
Galaz 2857 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 136 15-418
Galaz 2858 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial unknown 15-440
Galaz 2861 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 84A 15-105
Galaz 2870 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 54 11-481
Galaz 2871 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic room 54 54
Galaz 2894 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial N64 11B-420
Galaz 2899 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown
117
Galaz 2904 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 83 15-223
Galaz 2913 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 6 2-26
Galaz 2916 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 8A 2-74
Galaz 2917 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 8A 2-74
Galaz 2924 Early Classic Geometric burial NE10 2-58
Galaz 2926 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial NE10 2-58
Galaz 2929 Half Transitional Geometric burial unknown 28-2
Galaz 2933 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial NE4 2-41
Galaz 2935 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 6 2-31
Galaz 2944 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 4 2-21
Galaz 2945 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 4 2-21
Galaz 2946 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 3A 2-14
Galaz 2951 Half Late Classic Geometric burial 3 2-13
Galaz 2954 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 3 2-7
Galaz 2977 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 17A 2-130
Galaz 2979 Middle Classic Geometric burial 8 Crem.D
Galaz 2995 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 27 2-163
Galaz 2997 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 21A 2-168
Galaz 3000 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 32D 2-230
Galaz 3002 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown
Galaz 3028 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 24 2-188
Galaz 3031 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 24 2-197
Galaz 3033 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 32C 2-199
Galaz 3034 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 21A 2-170
Galaz 3039 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 27A 2-179
Galaz 3040 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 27A 2-182
Galaz 3063 Half Late Classic Geometric burial 36 2-283
Galaz 3073 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 41A 2-319
Galaz 3088-flare rim
Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 49A 11-455
Galaz 3094 Fully Boldface Geometric burial 49 11-454
Galaz 3095 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 49A 11-456
Galaz 3097 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 52 11-476
Galaz 3102 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 52 11-474
Galaz 3103 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 52 11-490
Galaz 3105 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 54 11-486
Galaz 3109 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 54 11-484
Galaz 3112 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 52 11-490
Galaz 3114 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 52 11-462
Galaz 3115 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 42A 11-493
Galaz 3123 Fully Transitional/ Early Classic
Geometric burial 57 11-509
Galaz 3124 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 79 15-30
Galaz 3144 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 81 15-27
Galaz 3147 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 81 75
Galaz 3150 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 70A 15-20
Galaz 3151 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 70A 15-16
Galaz 3152 Fully Boldface/ Transitional
Geometric burial 88 15-101
Galaz 3166 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial S79 15-82
Galaz 3179 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown 15-77
Galaz 3190 Half Early Classic Geometric burial unknown 15-80
Galaz 3193 Middle Classic Geometric burial 81 15-37
Galaz 3212 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 79 15-36
Galaz 3213 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 79 15-39
118
Galaz 3214 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 79 15-43
Galaz 3218 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 85 15-125
Galaz 3230 Transitional Geometric burial unknown
Galaz 3238 Fully Early Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Galaz 3241 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 91 15-141
Galaz 3242 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 95 15-159
Galaz 3246 Early Classic Geometric burial S79 15-155
Galaz 3249 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 114 114
Galaz 3264 Half Transitional Geometric burial 83 15-216
Galaz 3271 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 83 15-217
Galaz 3274 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 83 15-216
Galaz 3275 Late Classic Geometric burial 111A 15-299
Galaz 3281 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial W83 15-298
Galaz 3283 Half Late Classic Geometric burial 109A 15-275
Galaz 3294 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 110 15-284
Galaz 3300 Late Classic Geometric burial 108A 15-277
Galaz 3302 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 109A 15-269
Galaz 3304 Early Classic Geometric burial 109A 15-259
Galaz 3310 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 83 15-227
Galaz 3319 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial W83 15-239
Galaz 3320 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial N130 Crem. N
Galaz 3348 Transitional Geometric burial 134 15-388
Galaz 3351 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 134 15-390
Galaz 3361 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 136 15-419
Galaz 3371 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 136 15-440
Galaz 3381 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 36 2-273
Galaz 5085 Late Classic Geometric burial unknown
Galaz 5126 Half Middle Classic Geometric unknown 48 11-441
Galaz 5136 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 52 11-472
Galaz 5140 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 48 11-433
Galaz 5144 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 48 11-413
Galaz 5145 Half Late Classic Geometric burial 49A 11-455
Galaz 5151 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 15 15-448
Galaz 5232 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 4 2-22
Galaz 6243 Half Late Classic Geometric burial 39 2-333
Galaz 6244 Fully Transitional/ Early Classic
Geometric burial 32C 2-249
Galaz 6252 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 36 2-294
Galaz 6262 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial unknown
Galaz 6265 Fully Boldface Naturalistic not burial 49 11-446
Mattocks 1129 Fully Middle Classic Geometric room unknown 35
Mattocks 1172 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial unknown 93
Mattocks 3655 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic burial 43 123
Mattocks 3674 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 6 24
Mattocks 3687 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic burial unknown 46
Mattocks 3712 Half Early Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Mattocks 3716 Half Middle Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Mattocks 3728 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic unknown unknown
Mattocks 3732 Fully Late Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Mattocks 3744 Fully Early Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Mattocks 3774 Fully Middle Classic Geometric room 17
Mattocks 4229 Fully Middle Classic Geometric room 441 441-3-3
Mattocks 4237 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 435 435-5-14
Mattocks 4239 Half Late Classic Geometric burial 433 433-6-
119
18
Mattocks 4269 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 435 435-5-21
Mattocks 4278 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 435 435-5-18
Mattocks 4285 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 435 435-5-12
Mattocks 4286 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 435 435-5-16
Mattocks 4293 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 435 435-5-12 2 ind.
Mattocks 9373 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 49 154
NAN 2100 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic unknown unknown
NAN 2195 Half Early Classic Geometric unknown unknown
NAN 2276 Half Late Classic Geometric unknown unknown
NAN 2674 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic unknown unknown
NAN 2736 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic unknown unknown
NAN 2740 Fully Middle Classic Geometric unknown unknown
NAN 2750 Fully Early Classic Geometric unknown unknown
NAN 7527 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 75 95
NAN 7545 Half Boldface Geometric burial 29 188
NAN 7551 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 12 57
NAN 7580 Half Transitional Geometric burial 28 180
NAN 7587 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial cremation
11-27 234
NAN 7598 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 29 137
NAN 7599 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 28 128
NAN 7607 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic burial 18 76
NAN 7609 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 31 5
NAN 7610 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 29 203
NAN 7612 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 41 27
NAN 7624 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 29 153
NAN 7631 Fully Middle Classic Geometric not burial 94
NAN 7634 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic burial 50 34
NAN 7647 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic not burial 29
NAN 7648 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 49 43
NAN 7651 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 28 128
NAN 7659 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 20 151
NAN 7669 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic burial 50 33
NAN 7674 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 47 35
NAN 7675 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic not burial 39
NAN 7679 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 28 140
NAN 7683 Fully Transitional Naturalistic burial 29 161
NAN 7684 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 28 174
NAN 7685 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 60 45
Swarts 410 Half Late Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Swarts 418 Fully Transitional Geometric unknown unknown
Swarts 421-flare
Fully Middle Classic Geometric unknown unknown
Swarts 423 Fully Middle Classic Geometric unknown 106 963
Swarts 2026 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 84 814
Swarts 2033 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 35 301
Swarts 2039 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown
Swarts 2041 Fully Early Classic Geometric not burial 86 800
Swarts 2047 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown 383
120
Swarts 2054 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 73 744
Swarts 2092 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 71 686
Swarts 2093 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 31 202
Swarts 2097 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial unknown
Swarts 2099 Fully Transitional Geometric not burial 61
Swarts 2110 Middle Classic Geometric burial 108 972
Swarts 2140 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown
Swarts 2142 Fully Middle Classic Geometric not burial 35 284
Swarts 2146 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown
Swarts 2158 Half Middle Classic Geometric not burial unknown
Swarts 2160 Early Classic Geometric not burial D 333
Swarts 2166 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 36 780
Swarts 2173 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 85 795
Swarts 2175 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 73 690
Swarts 2179 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic burial 946 946
Swarts 2180 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 20 131
Swarts 2183 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 84 818
Swarts 2184 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 3 11
Swarts 2188 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 39 458
Swarts 2199 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 55 543
Swarts 2206 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 55 562
Swarts 2208 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 73 722
Swarts 2211 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 108
Swarts 2220 Half Late Classic Geometric not burial 108 974
Swarts 2224 Half Late Classic Naturalistic burial 51 473
Swarts 2228 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 68A 675
Swarts 2233 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 32 237
Swarts 2235 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 32 247
Swarts 2236 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 63 613
Swarts 2239 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial 93 866
Swarts 2266 Middle Classic Geometric burial 20 138
Swarts 2277 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 353 353
Swarts 2284 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 21 157
Swarts 2288 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 13 103
Swarts 2289 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 35 297
Swarts 2297 Half Transitional Geometric burial 108 986
Swarts 2298 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 21 163
Swarts 2301 Half Late Classic Geometric burial 84 804
Swarts 2305 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 28 187
Swarts 2307 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 108 964
Swarts 2313 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 107 962
Swarts 2314 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 10 56
Swarts 2328 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic burial unknown
Swarts 2330 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic not burial 73 691
Swarts 2339 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 98 904
Swarts 2341 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial B 310
Swarts 2355 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 34 268
Swarts 2357 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 12 85
Swarts 2362 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 63 621
Swarts 2371 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 98 936
Swarts 2383 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial B 313
Swarts 2401 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown
Swarts 2403 Half Middle Classic Geometric not burial 63 617
Swarts 2416 Fully Late Classic Geometric burial 86 820
Swarts 2431 Early Classic Geometric burial 71 705
Swarts 2433 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 2A 1
121
Swarts 2438 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 20 136
Swarts 2441 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 87 829
Swarts 2447 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 71 706
Swarts 2454 Fully Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown
Swarts 2458 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic not burial 68A 664
Swarts 2466 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 83 782
Swarts 2468 Fully Late Classic Naturalistic burial unknown
Swarts 2471 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown
Swarts 2517 Fully Late Classic Geometric not burial 55 553
Swarts 2518 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 4 25
Swarts 2523 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 21 164
Swarts 2526 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 21 163
Swarts 2529 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 100 908
Swarts 2538 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 80A 756
Swarts 2544 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 73 691
Swarts 2546 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown
Swarts 2551 Half Early Classic Geometric not burial 55 568
Swarts 2555 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 28 188
Swarts 2558 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 96 883
Swarts 2571 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 21 144
Swarts 2579 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 62 588
Swarts 2580 Early Classic Naturalistic burial 100 906
Swarts 2585 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 80A 762
Swarts 2586 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 108 991
Swarts 2590 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 31 220
Swarts 2614 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial R 504
Swarts 2620 Half Late Classic Naturalistic burial 100 917
Swarts 2621 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 55 563
Swarts 2622 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial unknown
Swarts 2626 Middle Classic Naturalistic not burial unknown 467
Swarts 2631 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 97 892
Swarts 2680 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial B 320
Swarts 2683 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 11 63
Swarts 2686 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 40 590
Swarts 2690 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 99 859
Swarts 2691 Half Middle Classic Naturalistic burial unknown
Swarts 2741 Fully Middle Classic Geometric not burial 108 991
Swarts 9163 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 63 616
Swarts 9164 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial unknown
Swarts 9375 Half Late Classic Geometric burial 11 69
Swarts 10023 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 12 74
Swarts 10025 Fully Early Classic Geometric burial 31 222
Swarts 10031 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic burial 71 686
Swarts 10044 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 76S 727
Swarts 10048 Half Early Classic Geometric burial 81 759
Swarts 10049 Half Middle Classic Geometric burial 63
Swarts 10050 Fully Late Classic Geometric not burial 85 789
Swarts 10053 Fully Transitional Geometric burial 76
Swarts 10059 Fully Boldface Geometric not burial unknown
Swarts 10077 Fully Middle Classic Naturalistic general digging
unknown
Swarts 10081 Fully Early Classic Naturalistic general digging
unknown
122
Appendix 2 Chi-Square Contingency Tables
Firing by Layout
Count Total % Column % Row %
2 Sections 2 Sections Opposed Figures
3 Sections 4 Sections >6 Sections Central Figure
Central Opposed Figures
Rimwall
Oxidized 22 5.93 70.97 7.86
4 1.08 57.14 1.43
14 3.77 63.64 5.00
106 28.57 75.18 37.86
15 4.04 71.43 5.36
91 24.53 77.78 32.50
16 4.31 84.21 5.71
12 3.23 92.31 4.29
280 75.47
Reduced 9 2.43 29.03 9.89
3 0.81 42.86 3.30
8 2.16 36.36 8.79
35 9.43 24.82 38.46
6 1.62 28.57 6.59
26 7.01 22.22 28.57
3 0.81 15.79 3.30
1 0.27 7.69 1.10
91 24.53
31 8.36
7 1.89
22 5.93
141 38.01
21 5.66
117 31.54
19 5.12
13 3.50
371
12
2
123
Firing by Wear
Count Total % Column % Row %
None Light Light/Moderate Moderate Heavy/Moderate Heavy Indeterminate
Oxidized 19 4.46
73.08 5.83
171 40.14 73.39 52.45
24 5.63
82.76 7.36
62 14.55 77.50 19.02
12 2.82
100.00 3.68
30 7.04
96.77 9.20
8 1.88
53.33 2.45
326 76.53
Reduced 7 1.64
26.92 7.00
62 14.55 26.61 62.00
5 1.17
17.24 5.00
18 4.23
22.50 18.00
0 0.00 0.00 0.00
1 0.23 3.23 1.00
7 1.64
46.67 7.00
100 23.47
26 6.10
233 54.69
29 6.81
80 18.78
12 2.82
31 7.28
15 3.52
426
12
3
124
Firing by Design Class
Count Total % Column % Row %
Geometric Naturalistic
Oxidized 214 50.23 75.09 65.64
112 26.29 79.43 34.36
326 76.53
Reduced 71 16.67 24.91 71.00
29 6.81
20.57 29.00
100 23.47
Total 285 66.90
141 33.10
426
12
4
1
Firing by Context
Count Total % Column % Row %
Burial Burial Cremation
Not Burial
Oxidized 247 63.82 75.77 83.45
1 0.26
33.33 0.34
48 12.40 82.76 16.22
296 76.49
Reduced 79 20.41 24.23 86.81
2 0.52
66.67 2.20
10 2.58
17.24 10.99
91 23.51
326 84.24
3 0.78
58 14.99
387
12
5
2
Firing by Skeleton Age
Count Total % Column % Row %
Adolescent Adult Child Infant Old Adult
Oxidized 8 2.82
50.00 3.62
90 31.69 75.00 40.72
48 16.90 78.69 21.72
51 17.96 85.00 23.08
24 8.45
88.89 10.86
221 77.82
Reduced 8 2.82
50.00 12.70
30 10.56 25.00 47.62
13 4.58
21.31 20.63
9 3.17
15.00 14.29
3 1.06
11.11 4.76
63 22.18
16 5.63
120 42.25
61 21.48
60 21.13
27 9.51
284
12
6
3
Amount Oxidized by Wear
Count Total % Column % Row %
None Light Light/ Moderate
Moderate Heavy/ Moderate
Heavy Indeterminate
Fully 12 3.88
63.16 5.77
96 31.07 60.38 46.15
18 5.83
75.00 8.65
42 13.59 71.19 20.19
9 2.91
81.82 4.33
27 8.74
93.10 12.98
4 1.29
50.00 1.92
208 67.31
Half 7 2.27
36.84 6.93
63 20.39 39.62 62.38
6 1.94
25.00 5.94
17 5.50
28.81 16.83
2 0.65
18.18 1.98
2 0.65 6.90 1.98
4 1.29
50.00 3.96
101 32.69
19 6.15
159 51.46
24 7.77
59 19.09
11 3.56
29 9.39
8 2.59
309
130
12
7
4
Amount Oxidized By Temporal Style
Count Total % Column % Row %
Boldface Transitional Early Classic Middle Classic Late Classic
Fully 4 1.31
80.00 1.95
17 5.56
77.27 8.29
36 11.76 63.16 17.56
118 38.56 67.05 57.56
30 9.80
65.22 14.63
205 66.99
Half 1 0.33
20.00 0.99
5 1.63
22.73 4.95
21 6.86
36.84 20.79
58 18.95 32.95 57.43
16 5.23
34.78 15.84
101 33.01
5 1.63
22 7.19
57 18.63
176 57.52
46 15.03
306
12
8
5
Amount Oxidized By Design Class
Count Total % Column % Row %
Geometric Naturalistic
Fully 116 37.54 58.00 55.77
92 29.77 84.40 44.23
208 67.31
Half 84 27.18 42.00 83.17
17 5.50
15.60 16.83
101 32.69
200 64.72
109 35.28
309
12
9
6
Amount Oxidized By Context
Count Total % Column % Row %
Burial Burial cremation Not Burial Unknown
Fully 151 49.83 64.81 74.75
1 0.33
100.00 0.50
35 11.55 77.78 17.33
14 4.62
60.87 6.93
202 66.67
Half 82 27.06 35.19 81.19
0 0.00 0.00 0.00
10 3.30
22.22 9.90
9 2.97
39.13 8.91
101 33.33
233 76.90
1 0.33
45 14.85
23 7.59
303
130
7
Amount Oxidized By Skeleton
Count Total % Column % Row %
Adolescent Adult Child Infant Old Adult
Fully 5 2.39
62.50 3.68
54 25.84 60.67 39.71
36 17.22 78.26 26.47
30 14.35 66.67 22.06
11 5.26
52.38 8.09
136 65.07
Half 3 1.44
37.50 4.11
35 16.75 39.33 47.95
10 4.78
21.74 13.70
15 7.18
33.33 20.55
10 4.78
47.62 13.70
73 34.93
8 3.83
89 42.58
46 22.01
45 21.53
21 10.05
209
13
1
8
Amount Oxidized By Layout
Count Total % Column % Row %
2 Sections 3 Sections 4 Sections >6 Sections Central Figure Central Opposed
Figures
Rimwall
Fully 14 5.26
70.00 7.95
7 2.63
50.00 3.98
57 21.43 57.58 32.39
7 2.63
46.67 3.98
76 28.57 83.52 43.18
10 3.76
62.50 5.68
5 1.88
45.45 2.84
176 66.17
Half 6 2.26
30.00 6.67
7 2.63
50.00 7.78
42 15.79 42.42 46.67
8 3.01
53.33 8.89
15 5.64
16.48 16.67
6 2.26
37.50 6.67
6 2.26
54.55 6.67
90 33.83
20 7.52
14 5.26
99 37.22
15 5.64
91 34.21
16 6.02
11 4.14
266
13
2
