Examining the Production and Distribution of Shivwits Ware Pottery

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

4-21-2012

Publication Title

77th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology

Volume

2012

First page number:

121

Last page number:

121

Abstract

Shivwits pottery is one of the most common types found on both the Shivwits Plateau in Arizona and in the Moapa Valley in Nevada. Archaeologists assume that Shivwits pottery is local to the Shivwits Plateau; however, this hypothesis has not been validated chemically. Neutron activation analysis was conducted on plain utilitarian wares from the Shivwits Plateau and Moapa Valley. The results show that Shivwits ware is compositionally distinct from any other Virgin River assemblage. Furthermore, the chemical data strongly suggests that the prehistoric peoples living in the Moapa Valley imported Shivwits wares and manufactured ceramics locally.

Disciplines

Archaeological Anthropology | Chemistry

Language

English


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