An assessment of the manufacture, use, origin, and nomenclature of utilitarian ceramics produced by Native American peoples of Orange County, California

This thesis discusses whether prehistoric inhabitants of Orange County manufactured and/or utilized utilitarian ceramics, the origin of Tizon Brown Ware, and the validity of assigning locally produced ceramics to that Ware. All Orange County archaeological sites containing indigenously manufactured ceramics are herein described. Of the approximately 1600 recorded Orange County, only 2.0 percent (n = 32) contain locally manufactured ceramics. Ninety-one percent (n = 29) of these sites contain fewer than 120 sherds each, and 72 percent (n = 23) have a demonstrated historic association. Linguistic evidence supports that ceramic manufacture was an unlikely component of pre-contact lifeways. There is a 400 year hiatus from the disappearance of Tizon Brown Ware from Arizona to its “appearance” in southern California. Further, the attribution of local wares to Tizon Brown Ware is based on superficial characteristics, invalidating the assignment of southern California ceramics to this Ware. Basketry theoretically provided the substitute for ceramics, an assertion supported by ethnographic, archaeological and linguistic evidence. Based on the paucity of locally manufactured prehistoric ceramics, and the high correlation between ceramic presence and historic occupation, it is concluded that ceramics in Orange County were produced after Spanish contact.