Ceramics and social dynamics: Technological style and corrugated ceramics during the Pueblo III to Pueblo IV transition, Silver Creek, Arizona

Abstract

Prehistoric social networks reveal paths of behavior that are vital to the understanding of past life. Utilitarian ceramics that were a part of everyday life and regular household activities, and the elements of technological style they possess, are accurate indicators of local social dynamics. Corrugated ceramic vessels in particular contain subtleties in their decoration that may distinguish learning frameworks within and between groups on a small, perhaps household-level scale. My study uses these premises to examine corrugated sherds, and the social patterns they reflect, from several sites in the Silver Creek area of east-central Arizona.