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Taos Archaeological Society's Next Monthly Meeting:
Date: Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Location: Kit Carson Electric Cooperative Board Room, 118 Cruz Alta Rd.
Title: The Ceramics of Blueberry Hill Road and Other Taos County Sites During
the Late Developmental Period (1000-12000) and How They Relate to the
Greater Southwest
Speaker: Dean Wilson, Director, Ceramics Laboratory, New Mexico Office of Archaeological Studies
Dean
Wilson, Director, Ceramics Laboratory, New Mexico Office of
Archaeological Studies, will present the April program on The Ceramics
of Blueberry Hill Road and Other Taos County Sites.
Mr. Wilson received an M.A. from Eastern New Mexico University in 1985. The following information is from the OAS web site:
I am currently involved in the analysis and write-up of
prehistoric and historic ceramics from several projects in the Northern Rio
Grande region. Pottery from most of the prehistoric sites in the Pojoaque
Corridor Project in the Tewa Basin indicates an occupation during the Late
Developmental period (A.D. 900 to 1200), with a few small components dating to
later periods. Data from these sites provides an opportunity to examine trends
associated with the earliest pottery produced in areas north of Santa Fe.
Another project is the analysis of pottery recovered during investigations by
Los Alamos National Laboratory on the Pajarito Plateau. Pottery from these
sites reflect occupations during to the Coalition (A.D. 1200 to 1350) and
Classic (A.D. 1350 to 1600) periods. I will also be examining pottery from
Coalition and Early Classic periods from a pueblo currently being excavated
near downtown Santa Fe.
Ceramic data from these and earlier OAS projects is being
used to examine trends relating to the sequence and nature of the prehistoric
ceramic occupation of the Northern Rio Grande. One important issue currently
being explored is the origin of Pueblo groups in the Northern Rio Grande, who
are often assumed to have migrated from the San Juan region during the
thirteenth century. Instead, ceramic evidence from these various projects
suggests a long, continual Puebloan population beginning by at least A.D. 900
that grew and expanded into other areas of the Northern Rio Grande during the
thirteenth century. Ceramic data relating to characterization of pottery paste
and style from various localities is also providing information concerning the
nature and causes of increased pottery specialization and formalized
distribution networks and alliances from the Coalition to Classic periods.
Ceramic data is also being used to examine the nature of
historic Spanish occupations in Northern New Mexico. Native ceramics were among
the most common artifacts in assemblages in the Palace of the Governors from
the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth centuries. They were also common
at Spanish homesteads dating from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth
centuries investigated during the Pojoaque Corridor project. This data
indicates that most of the pottery at Spanish sites was produced by nearby
Pueblo or Apache groups. Trends in the forms and style of Native pottery from
historic sites are being used to examine changes in the relationship between
Indian producers and Spanish consumers.

Please join the speaker for dinner at Graham's Grille at 5 p.m.
RSVP to Dorothy Wells at 751-3265 or dorothy_wells@mac.com