Andrea Torvinen

Situated in the Malpaso Valley of Zacatecas, Mexico, the site of La Quemada was one of a series of polities that developed along the northern frontier of Mesoamerica during the Epiclassic period (A.D. 500-900). Widely distributed ceramic wares suggest interaction among northern frontier polities, but it remains unknown whether they are the product of widely recognized social categories (i.e., shared style) or direct, face-to-face interaction among individuals (i.e., shared composition). Answering this question requires distinguishing between local and nonlocal pottery found at La Quemada. Despite geologic homogeneity observed across the northern frontier region due to an extensive ignimbrite province, previous characterization studies involving La Quemada pottery types have observed compositional variability among sherds and clays sampled from the Malpaso Valley. This poster builds upon these studies to define the set of ceramic fabrics observed in the La Quemada assemblage using a three-tier approach: (1) qualitative sorting and description of petrographic fabrics; (2) quantitative point counting of a proportional subsample of petrographic fabrics to test their mutual exclusivity; and (3) analysis of elemental data acquired from the clay matrix of point counted sherds and a set of briquettes made from natural Malpaso clays to establish local or nonlocal provenance.

The Epiclassic (A.D. 500-900) northern frontier of Mesoamerica was composed of a network of polities that shared a degree of categorical commonality (i.e., similarities in architectural features, site layout, and iconography), yet persisted for varying lengths of time. For example, La Quemada in Zacatecas, Mexico, endured for 400 years but was abandoned ca. A.D. 900, while neighboring polities persisted into the Postclassic period. What remains unknown are the social mechanisms that underlie the creation, maintenance, and disruption of stylistic similarities in northern frontier material culture traditionally interpreted as shared social identities. The collective social identification framework allows for both the exploration of the processes through which individuals identify with groups (i.e., face-to-face interactions or shared beliefs) and the prediction of conditions under which sustained collective action is most likely to occur. In the case of La Quemada, it is hypothesized that a change in the way its occupants related to one another categorically ultimately contributed to its decline and abandonment. Previously, changes in the frequencies of ceramic styles present in the site assemblage have been used to infer a shift in La Quemada’s categorical affiliation from the Chalchihuites polity in the north towards polities located in the Juchipila and Bolaños Valleys to the south and west, respectively (Jiménez and Darling 2000). This paper systematically examines the La Quemada ceramic assemblage to determine whether the perceived categorical shift did occur and will critically evaluate whether ceramic stylistic changes are a good proxy for understanding categorical identification in the northern frontier region.

The hilltop center of La Quemada in the Malpaso Valley of Zacatecas, Mexico, was the focal point of one of several polities that developed along the northern frontier of Mesoamerica during the Epiclassic period (A.D. 500-900). Northern frontier polities are known to have interacted due to their shared material culture (i.e., patio-banquette complexes, colonnaded halls, and the exchange of obsidian and shell products), but the mechanism(s) of this interaction are not fully understood. Ceramic wares, such as red-on-buff, incised-engraved, and resist, are also widely distributed across the region and provide a means of analyzing past social networks. What remains unknown is whether northern frontier wares are distinct types produced and consumed locally or if they were produced in one polity and consumed in another. Answering this question using methods of ceramic characterization will determine if regional ceramic traditions were the result of exchange networks or the development of a shared ideology that was materialized in ceramic style.

During the Epiclassic period (A.D. 500-900), the northern frontier of Mesoamerica consisted of a regional network of polities focused on large, hilltop centers including the site of La Quemada in the Malpaso Valley of Zacatecas, Mexico. While extensive archaeological research has been conducted at the site, a seriation of the La Quemada-Malpaso Valley Archaeological Project ceramic assemblage remains to be finalized. Establishing the chronology of La Quemada is essential for two reasons: (1) to ensure the occupational history of La Quemada is accurately integrated into the regional chronology of the northern frontier; and (2) to establish the chronological control necessary for addressing changes in the social interactions in which La Quemada residents engaged. Previous analyses found that red-on-buff and incised-engraved types predominate in most proveniences through the entire occupation of La Quemada; therefore, the type-based analysis will be informed by an attribute analysis focused on seriating design motifs (e.g., frets, steps, zigzags, and life forms). Such an approach may allow us to identify fine-scale variations in the frequency of red-on-buff and incised-engraved ceramics though time, which will enhance our ability to order proveniences based on their assemblage composition.

Archaeologists commonly track the circulation of objects through provenance and interaction studies, but determining why those objects moved is difficult. In a ritual economy, the economic implications of ritual obligations provide one such impetus for object circulation. This perspective is explored through an analysis of ethnographically documented ritual movements of people and objects, and the use of ritual objects within ceremonies by the Huichol (Wixárika) of the Sierra Madre Occidental. This case study is used to determine whether ritually deposited assemblages can be identified as such archaeologically, and to evaluate criteria proposed for identifying ritual deposits in the archaeological record.

La Quemada, Zacatecas, was part of a regional network of centers known to have interacted through ceramic exchange during the Epiclassic period (A.D. 600-900). This study utilizes a clustering method to determine if different sectors of the site interacted differently with distant areas and whether the connections maintained by social constituencies residing in these sectors matched those observed at the site-wide level. Evidence for the repetition of differential use patterns regarding public vs. private space was found at multiple scales and supports the conclusion that La Quemada may have served as a ceremonial center for the Malpaso Valley and beyond.

La Quemada, Zacatecas, was part of a regional network of centers known to have interacted through ceramic exchange during the Epiclassic period (A.D. 600-900).  This study utilizes a least-cost path analysis to evaluate the geographical accessibility of neighboring centers to La Quemada.  Considering travel costs alone, it was expected that the proposed trading partner of La Quemada, El Teul, would also be the most geographically accessible, however this was not the case.  This paper discusses the methods and results of the analysis and suggests the possibility that conflict between neighboring centers was responsible for the discrepancy with the archaeological record.

"One of the only long-term records of societies' capacities to change (i.e., maintain a resilient social-ecological system) is the archaeological record. Our papers contribute to understanding how the resilience of a food supply in small-scale societies affects the persistence of social-ecological systems over the long-term. According to the Aims and Vision statement of the Resilience 2014 conference, transformability is “the capacity of a society to change the system's state variables when current trajectories become untenable.” This vision presupposes that members of a society 1) can recognize that a trajectory is untenable, and 2) have the capacity to cooperate and change the necessary state variables that limit a society's capacity to change. Our papers investigate these two critical processes over the long-term: The ability to recognize that a trajectory of food production is untenable and constraints on the capacity of societies to change the relevant state variables when a system of food production looses resilience.

Our papers emphasize the work of young scholars leading papers on transdisciplinary projects. We draw on the long-term nature of the archaeological record to identify trade-offs and synergies between strategies for producing food and the persistence of social-ecological systems in arid North America and the offshore islands of the North Atlantic. Both of these regions presented common challenges for food producers: The productivity of terrestrial ecosystems is highly constrained, either by aridity or cold, and terrestrial productivity is also highly uncertain from year-to-year. In arid North America and the North Atlantic, prehistoric peoples developed various systems of food production to cope with the potentially negative consequences of low and unpredictable terrestrial productivity. For example, in the Zuni area of modern day New Mexico, farmers invested in intricate physical infrastructure to subsidize the flow of water into their gardens to produce more reliable yields from domesticated plants, such as maize, beans and squash. In the North Atlantic, populations attempted to maintain diverse production systems that included pastoralism, the harvest of marine resources, trade and minor crop production. Our research explores the intersection of particular configurations of food production strategies and social networks on the long-term resilience of food supplies to droughts (in arid North America) and extreme cold (in the North Atlantic). Each system of food production considered was embedded in social networks that partly determined how and where people could move and who people could count on during times of food stress. In general, we illustrate the long-term effects of different social structures on the resilience of food supplies to drought and extreme cold. We also illustrate trade-offs between what is the most resilient strategy of securing a food supply for individuals vs. the best strategy at the level of a social-ecological system. Such trade-offs constrain the capacity of groups to cooperate and transform a system.

We seek to create private-public, academic-policy conversations to 1) inform on the variables that effect long-term outcomes in social-ecological systems, and 2) obtain feedback on the relevance and shortcomings of knowledge generated from studies of systems over the long-term."

Northwest Mexico occupies a key geographical space between Mesoamerica and the U.S. Southwest. For that reason, this area was previously studied only in terms of outside colonization, migration, and large scale economic systems. As research interest in the area grows, we are finding a much more complex archaeological record, in a wide range of spatial and temporal contexts, which needs to be understood in its own terms. This session presents current investigations in architecture and landscape studies, mortuary analysis, and interregional interaction through ceramic exchange from an array of projects in the modern states of Durango, Zacatecas and Sonora.