Award Date

1-1-2004

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology

First Committee Member

Karen Harry

Number of Pages

175

Abstract

Intermountain Brownware, is a late prehistoric ceramic type made by mobile hunter-gatherers that is found throughout southern Nevada, western Utah and northern Arizona. Most hunter-gather groups around the world are not pottery producers. Through interdisciplinary analysis, I examine the physical and morphological characteristics to understand the amount of labor invested in the construction and production of Intermountain Brownware. I then evaluate these results amongst environmental, historical, ethnological, and archaeological data to conclude that Intermountain Brownware possesses lower porosity, and is thinner and stronger than commonly reported. Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) is performed to empirically characterize food residues remaining in the pores of each sherd. Seed and root residues were predominant in our archaeological samples and meat was not. This study demonstrates that Intermountain Brownware ceramics are of better quality than previously thought, that labor investment was significant, and that these vessels were primarily constructed for cooking seed and root stews.

Keywords

Analysis; Arizona; Brownware; Functional; Intermountain; Mobility; Nevada; Pottery; Utah

Controlled Subject

Archaeology; Indians of North America--Study and teaching

File Format

pdf

File Size

5355.52 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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