Abstract
Although widely employed in Eurasia, lead glazes were produced in only two small regions of the Americas prior to European contact, both in the Southwest. Southwestern glaze paints are unique in that they developed as decorative elements instead of as protective surface coatings. The first independent invention of glaze paints was in the Upper San Juan region of southwestern Colorado during the early Pueblo I period (ca. 700-850 CE). Despite recent interest in the later Pueblo IV glaze paints of New Mexico (ca. 1275-1700 CE), there have been no technological analyses of the Pueblo I glaze paints. This research project presents the first analysis and technological reconstruction of the Pueblo I glaze paints. It is in the production of the glaze paints that the potters were innovating and experimenting with materials. These early glaze paints have the potential to provide important information regarding both technology of production as well as the relationships and interactions of potters during this period in the Upper San Juan region. Preliminary results reveal a pattern of traits that involves raw materials, processing, properties and performance of the final product suggesting the existence of a patterned technological behavior.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A.O. Shepard, in Archaeological Studies in the La Plata District (Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington D.C, 1939), p. 249.
C.D. Wilson and E. Blinman, Upper San Juan Region Pottery Typology (Museum of New Mexico: Office of Archaeological Studies, Santa Fe, 1993), pp. 18–22.
J.A. Habicht-Mauche, in The Social Life of Pots: Glaze Wares and Cultural Dynamics in the Southwest, AD 1250–1680, edited by J.A. Habicht-Mauche, S.L. Eckert, and D.L. Huntley (The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2006), pp. 3–16.
L.S. Cordell and J.A. Habicht-Mauche, in Potters and Communities of Practice: Glaze Paint and Polychrome Pottery in the American Southwest, AD 1250–1700, edited by L.S. Cordell and J.A. Habicht-Mauche (The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2012), pp. 1–7.
J.R. Allison, Animas-La Plata Project: Ceramic Studies (SWCA Environmental Consultants, Phoenix, 2010).
R.H. Wilshusen and S.G. Ortman, Kiva 64, 369 (1999).
J.M. Potter and J. Chuipka, Kiva 72, 407 (2007).
J.M. Potter and T.D. Yoder, in The Social Construction of Communities: Agency, Structure, and Identity in the Prehispanic Southwest, edited by M.D. Varien and J.M. Potter (AltaMira Press, Lanham, MD, 2008), pp. 21–40.
J.M. Potter, in Animas-La Plata Project: Final Synthetic Report, edited by J.M. Potter (SWCA Environmental Consultants, Phoenix, 2010), pp. 3–18.
T.R. Fenn, B.J. Mills, and M. Hopkins, in The Social Life of Pots: Glaze Wares and Cultural Dynamics in the Southwest, AD 1250–1680, edited by J.A. Habicht-Mauche, S.L. Eckert, and D.L. Huntley (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, AZ, 2006), pp. 60–85.
D.L. Huntley, Ancestral Zuni Glaze-Decorated Pottery: Viewing Pueblo IV Regional Organization Through Ceramic Production and Exchange (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2008).
K. Schleher, D.L. Huntley, and C.L. Herhahn, in Potters and Communities of Practice: Glaze Paint and Polychrome Pottery in the American Southwest, AD 1250–1700, edited by L.S. Cordell and J.A. Habicht-Mauche (The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2012), pp. 97– 106.
N.F. Eisenhauer, V.H. Hensler, K.R. Adams, S.S. Murray, and E.M. Perry, in Animas-La Plata Project: Ridges Basin Excavations: Eastern Basin Sites, edited by T.D. Yoder and J.M. Potter (SWCA Environmental Consultants, Phoenix, 2010), pp. 203–236.
E. Blinman and C. Swink, in The Prehistory and History of Ceramic Kilns, edited by P.M. Rice (American Ceramic Society, 1997), pp. 85–102.
J. Molera, T. Pradell, N. Salvadó, and M. Vendrell-Saz, Journal of the American Ceramic Society 84, 1120 (2001).
M.S. Walton and M.S. Tite, Archaeometry 52, 733 (2010).
M.S. Tite, I. Freestone, R. Mason, J. Molera, M. Vendrell-Saz, and N. Wood, Archaeometry 40, 241 (1998).
K. Schleher, The Role of Standardization in Specialization of Ceramic Production at San Marcos Pueblo, New Mexico, Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2010.
E. Blinman, K. Schleher, T. Dickerson, C.L. Herhahn, and I. Gundiler, in Potters and Communities of Practice: Glaze Paint and Polychrome Pottery in the American Southwest, AD 1250–1700, edited by L.S. Cordell and J.A. Habicht-Mauche (University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2012), pp. 107–116.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Santarelli, B., Killick, D. & Goff, S. Technological Behavior in the Southwest: Pueblo I Lead Glaze Paints from the Upper San Juan Region. MRS Online Proceedings Library 1656, 3–8 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.813
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/opl.2014.813