The organization of ceramic production in the Upper Pecos Valley, New Mexico, A.D. 1200--1400

This study examines the development of ceramic specialization in the context of increasing population aggregation in the Pecos area of the American Southwest during the late Coalition to early Classic period, A.D. 1200–1400. The organization of ceramic production at the earliest aggregated settlements in the Upper Pecos Valley is investigated through mineralogical and chemical materials analyses, techniques of pottery manufacture, and whole vessel variability. Utility and white ware ceramics provide a means of understanding prehistoric social and economic organization at Pecos, and reflect the intensity and extent of regional exchange relationships. The great.ceramic compositional variability documented by the study signals the existence of diverse production areas and the frequency of exchange in ceramics. A cooperative economic relationship among the Pecos pueblos and equal access to ceramic resources are indicated. Ceramic composition became relatively more standardized by the time Pecos Pueblo was founded in the Classic period, suggesting the emergence of individual craft specialization prior to the introduction of glaze ware ceramics. Greater morphological standardization and probably part-time specialization in white ware production, especially for the largest bowls, appear to have been initiated at the pueblos preceding Pecos Pueblo.; During a time of great demographic and social change, long-distance regional trade in utility and white ware vessels is prevalent. Up to half of the white ware vessels and a smaller volume of the utility ware ceramics from the early pueblos are demonstrated to be nonlocal imports. The nonlocal ceramic materials which appear throughout the temporal sequence reveal continued cultural ties between the Pecos, Galisteo, Jemez, and Pajarito Plateau areas. The role of Pecos as a center of commerce and trade did not arise with the development of Pecos Pueblo itself, but appears to have been foreshadowed in the long-distance ceramic trade relationships maintained by the earliest aggregated pueblos in the valley. Incipient craft specialization and participation in regional exchange networks, as suggested in this study for the Coalition period, appear to have been significant factors in the process of aggregation at Pecos Pueblo.