Ceramic style and the reorganization of fourteenth century Pueblo communities in east-central Arizona

Abstract

The transition from Pinedale to Fourmile style on White Mountain Red Ware marks a critical shift in the production of prehistoric pottery in the American Southwest. As a decorative event, it involved the restructuring of both the painting process and symbolic presentation. As a record of past behavior, it evidences new patterns of social interaction among early Pueblo IV period (A.D. 1300-1400) potters at post-migration communities in east-central Arizona. Ultimately, these patterns reveal social differentiation among coresident groups, not integration as recent ceramic-based models imply. This study is predicated upon an analysis of painted whole vessels that uses measures of style behavior as it is expressed in brushstrokes and other microscale variability. It demonstrates the effectiveness of placing the individual at the core of archaeological inference.