Lab News

Participants Assist in Special Study to Refine Pottery Chronology

November 6, 2006

Two Fall Lab participants analyze bowl rim sherds from Albert Porter Pueblo and enter the data into the computerized database.

In 2006, the Crow Canyon lab staff began testing a new protocol that makes it possible for program participants to assist in a detailed pottery analysis formerly performed only in the off-season by specially trained personnel.

The analysis involves close examination of sherds from the rims of white ware bowls recovered from ancestral Pueblo sites investigated by Crow Canyon. Illustrated instructions guide participants step-by-step through a series of questions, each of which requires the participant-analyst to make a specific observation about an individual sherd—for example, the presence or absence of a painted design and, if a painted design is present, its composition and layout. Participants then enter their observations into Crow Canyon’s computerized database.

The painted design on this rim sherd tells us that the bowl from which the sherd came was made between A.D. 1250 and 1280.

This pottery-design analysis builds on a study originally conceived by Scott Ortman, Crow Canyon’s laboratory director. As part of his master’s thesis research, Scott conducted a similar analysis of 8,000 bowl rim sherds from tree-ring-dated contexts at 20 ancestral Pueblo sites in the Mesa Verde region. Because the sherds in Scott’s original study were securely dated through independent means, it was possible for him to associate specific pottery-design attributes with fairly narrow time ranges. This chronological fine-tuning allows archaeologists to more precisely estimate occupation spans at Pueblo sites that fail to yield tree-ring dates but that have pottery assemblages of sufficient size to support analysis. In addition, the distribution of specific pottery designs across the landscape has the potential to shed light on patterns of social interaction among the Pueblo peoples of the Mesa Verde region.

The lab has incorporated the new analysis system into a lesson plan used in a variety of programs, including Middle School Archaeology Camp, Adult Research Week, and Fall Lab. So far, the results have been very positive, with students and adults assisting in the analysis of 850 bowl rim sherds from Albert Porter Pueblo. Participants enjoy learning about Pueblo pottery and contributing to an important research project, and Crow Canyon archaeologists are benefitting tremendously from the generation of new, high-quality data with which to further refine the chronology. But with 5,150 bowl rim sherds from Albert Porter remaining, not to mention large pottery assemblages from other sites, there’s still plenty of work to do—which is why the lab is extending public participation in the project into the 2007 program season.

For information about how you can participate in a Crow Canyon research program, see Archaeology Adventures.