Ceramics

Tommy Site 1999 Field Season

Ceramic Artifacts

Lori S. Reed and Joell Goff

Animas Ceramic Consulting, Inc.

            During the 1999 field season at the Tommy Site, approximately 16,000 ceramic artifacts were recovered, most of which are from midden deposits.  Of this total, a sample of 3,980 ceramics was selected for analysis from midden unit 142N, 102E, the pitstructure, and the burial.  Analysis methods and the sampling strategy followed the procedures employed by Animas Ceramic Consulting.  Also, statistically generated ceramic mean dates and ranges for the midden were calculated by stratigraphic level.  Ceramic series, ware, and type designations were assigned using the traditional ceramic typologies for the northern Southwest.  For a list of bibliographic references relevant to the ceramic artifact analysis, please refer to References Cited. 

Midden Unit 142N, 102E

Click on excavation level numbers for summary tables and digital images of ceramic artifacts.  Level 1 is the first excavated level at the surface of the midden and Level 15 is the lowest level of the midden.  In relationship to time, level 15 includes ceramic artifacts representing the earliest occupation of the site. 

            Level 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Pitstructure

            Ceramics from the pitstructure total 83 items, including sherds that were assigned ceramic types and others lacking enough painted design or surface area to confidently assign ceramic types.  The table below summarizes the ceramic assemblage from the excavated pitstructure.  Click on the ceramic types for digital image examples.  Based on counts and weights of the ceramic types listed below with less than a 300 year manufacturing span, two ceramic mean date ranges were calculated.  The first, based on sherd count, is AD 1000-1076 with a mean of  AD1038.  The second, based on sherd weight, is AD 1013-1083 with a mean of AD 1048.  Comparison of the pitstructure date ranges with the midden levels suggest that occupation of the structure occurred during the time levels 2 through 12 of the midden were deposited.

Summary of Ceramic Artifacts from the Pitstructure. 

Human Burial 

            Ceramic artifacts associated with the single human burial include one McElmo Black-on-white bowl and one Escavada Black-on-white olla (jar) fragment.  Based on the presence of McElmo Black-on-white dating between AD 1075 and 1275, the burial probably dates later than the pitstructure. 

Interpretations

            With analysis of the ceramic artifacts described above, several preliminary interpretations of the data may be proposed within the topics of chronology, pottery technology, and pottery exchange.  First, the ceramic mean date and range calculations from levels 1 through 15 of Unit 142N, 102E indicate that the Tommy Site was initially occupied during the early Pueblo II period (AD 900-1000).  The occupation continued into the middle to late Pueblo II period (AD 1000-1125).  Although examples of Pueblo III (AD 1125-1300) pottery types (e.g., McElmo Black-on-white, Mesa Verde Black-on-white) were identified in the upper levels of the midden, it appears that the site may have been abandoned at the transition between the Pueblo II and Pueblo III periods. 

            Second, the distinctive shift in selection of tempering material identified at other late Pueblo II to Pueblo III sites along the middle San Juan River valley also occurs at the Tommy Site.  During analysis of pottery from Salmon Ruins and the Box B site (Mills 1991), a transition from sand-tempered pottery to crushed rock-tempered (crushed river cobbles) pottery was identified.  Irwin-Williams (1983) has suggested that this technological change in pottery production (along with architectural and other changes)  may have been the result of Chacoan abandonment of the San Juan River valley, a short occupational hiatus, and reoccupation of the area by Mesa Verde people.  Although the technological change does occur at the Tommy Site, there does not appear to be a clear division between the locally produced sand tempered versus crushed rock tempered pottery; a gradual transition to pottery tempered with crushed river cobbles is more likely.  Therefore, there is little evidence from this site to support Irwin-Williams’ hypothesis that a “Chacoan population” was replaced by a “Mesa Verdean” population by the early Pueblo III period.  Further excavations during the 2000 field season will contribute further data (particularly from other pitstructure and surface room contexts) to address this issue in greater detail.  Also, the proposed pottery raw material study for the 2000 field season will yield information relevant to local production and changes in resource selection. 

            Finally, evidence for exchange of pottery vessels is abundant at the Tommy Site.  Similar to most Pueblo II sites in the San Juan Basin (e.g., Mills et al. 1993; Reed 1998; Toll and McKenna 1992), ceramic artifacts produced in other areas of the Anasazi region were identified in the Tommy Site assemblage.  As shown in the summary tables for each excavation level, Chuska series pottery is abundant in the collection.  Because Chuska pottery has distinctive trachyte temper that is available only in the Chuska Mountains (Mills et al. 1997; Shepard 1939; Stoltman 1999), this pottery was produced at sites along the Chuska slope and imported into the Tommy Site.  Other imported pottery includes Northern San Juan (Mesa Verde), Kayenta, and Mogollon traditions from the north, west, and south. 

            With completion of the first phase of ceramic analysis, it is clear that the Tommy Site holds abundant opportunity for studying the production, function, and distribution of pottery in the middle San Juan River valley.  Research issues related to chronology, technology, and exchange will be further pursued with additional analysis of pottery from the 1999 field season and the 2000 field season.  One of the most critical issues concerns the occupational sequence of the site in relation to the abandonment and reoccupation hypothesis put forth by Cynthia Irwin-Williams (1983).  Ceramic chronological and technological data from the Tommy Site will contribute to further examination of this and other issues.