Black-on-white to Glaze-on-red: Migration, Ritual and Exchange in the Middle Rio Grande PDF

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Acknowledgments 9 Several people helped to bring this chapter to fruition. Dr Dennis and tudy O'Toole and the Cañada Alamosa Institute provided the opportu- Btack-on-\IVhite to Glaze-on-Red nity to do research in one of the most fascinating areas of New Mexico. The Adoption of Glaze Technology i...

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Black-on-white to Glaze-on-red: Migration, Ritual and Exchange in the Middle Rio Grande Suzanne L . Eckert The Social Life of Pots: Glaze Wares and Cultural Transformation in the Late Precontact Southwest edited by J. A. Habicht-Mauche, S. L. Eckert and D. Huntley

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T he Social Life of Pot s Glaze Wares and Cult ural Dynamics in t he Sout hwest , AD 1250-1680 … Suzanne L . Eckert T he Social Life of Pot s: Glaze Wares and Cult ural Dynamics in t he Sout hwest , AD 1250-1680 Judit h Habicht Mauche Social Boundaries, Immigrat ion, and Rit ual Syst ems: A Case St udy from t he American Sout hwest Suzanne L . Eckert

Acknowledgments Several people helped to bring this chapter to fruition. Dr Dennis and tudy O'Toole and the Cañada Alamosa Institute provided the opportu-

nity to do research in one of the most fascinating areas of New Mexico. Dr. Linda Cordell and Dr Stephen Lekson provided stimulating suggcstions and editorial comment. Karl W Laumbach, director ofthe Cañada

9

Btack-on-\IVhite to Glaze-on-Red The Adoption of Glaze Technology

in the

Cent¡al Rio Grande ValieY

Alamosa Project, provided guidance and disciplined attenrion to the dâra.

Suzanne L. Eckert

During the fourteenth century' the establishment and growth of large towns in the central Rio Grande region (including the lower Rio Puerco and Rio Grande Valleys from the Rio Chiquito in the north to the confluence ofthe Rio Puerco and Rio Grande in the south) resulted in a new social landscape that required navigation by various Pueblo groups (Eckert and Cordell zoo). This demographic re-formation provided new arenas

in which transformations in group identity, social organization, and ritral systems could be negotiated. During this period, new regional traditions evident in decorated ceramic style, ceramic technology, and ¿rchitectural designs developed. Howeveq the social processes that produced these new traditions in the centrâl Rio Grande region remain a rnatter of debate' The early Pueblo IV period (eo rz75-r4oo) in the central Rio Grande region is generally defined by the appearance of red-slipped, glazepainted pottery apparently made in imitation of Western Pueblo Glaze Ware. Early glaze paint manufacture occurred along the central and lower

Rio Grande from Cochiti south to Socorro (Eckert' chap 3, this vol; Snow r98z). This nerv ceramic tradition has been associated rvith immigration of Western Pueblo groups into the area (Reed 1949:169-7o; Shepard r94z:rg7-99; Warren 1976), the spread ofideology and its associated rituals (Crown r994:ro8; Graves and Eckert r998:279; Spielmann 1998), and/or transformatioìs in exchange networks (Habicht-Mauche rgg5; Herhahn, chap. ro, this vol.; Snow r98r).

16z

/

Toni S. Laumbach

This chapter briefly explores the adoption of glaze-painted porrery at four fourteenth-century Rio Grande sites (see figs. r.r and i.z) by exam_ ining various decorative ¿nd technologicâl cerâmic attributes. To explore which of the above social processes were related to the adoption of glaze technology, I examine how quickly glaze-painted pottery was âdopted at each site, the production source for glaze-painted pottery, and changes in design style and iconography. I find that glaze ware production and distri_ bution among these four villages varied greatly, and cannot be explained by a single social process.

Previous Explanations for the Adoption of Glaze Technotogy

In the central Rio Grande region, the shift from carbon_painted, white_ slipped pottery to glaze-painted, red-slipped pottery was a dramadc ftan_ sition for potters in terrns of both production technology and decora_ tion. Decoratively, the contrast between slip colors is probably the most visually striking difference. However, in many cases, the transition from white- to red-slipped porrery was also accompanied by a change in de_ sign layout and motifs (Graves and Eckert r99g). Tèchnically, the switch from carbon-rich paints to paints composed of lead_ and copper_bearing minerals is most notâble. However, a switch from reducing atmosphere to oxidizing atmosphere when firing pottery was also required. In some âreas, the shift in paint composition is ¿lso associated with a shift in tem_ per choice (Warren r976). These decorâtive and rechnical shifts required conscious choices on the part of Rio Grande potters.

The conscious adoption of glaze technology in the Rio Grande V¿l_ ley has most commonly been explained through immigration from the Western Pueblo region (Reed r949:r69-7o; Shepard ry42:rg7_gg;Wa:ren ry76), as a response to ritual developments sweeping over much of the Pueblo Southwest during the r3oos (Graves and Eckert r99g; Spiel_ mann rggS), or as transformation in exchange networks (Habicht_Mauche 1995; Herhahn, chap. ro, rhis vol.; Snow t98r). Because glaze recipes and an oxidizing firing atmosphere must be le¿rned eirher through trial and

error or from ânother potter, the rapid appearance of glaze technology throughout much of the Rio Grande region as an apparently fully de_ veloped technique led early researchers to hypothesize the presence of Western Pueblo immigrants (Shepard r94z). More recent research has

164

/

Suzanne

L. Ecke¡t

shown that glâze technology is not as difficult to learn as originally supposed (Herhahn 1995), and that massive immigration need not be used to explain its rapid spread throughout the Rio Grande region (Herhahn, chap. ro, this vol.).

Early glaze-painted vessels in the central Rio Grande region display iconic representations and distinctive slip-color combinations associated with the development ând spread ofa new ritual system in the eârly r3oos throughout much ofthe Pueblo world (E. C. Adams r99r; Crown 1994). Aspects of this new ritual system focused on fertility and community well-being, and may have helped to integrate newly aggregated populations (Crown 1994). Spielmann (1998:r54) has argued that a new ideology and ritual practices were adopted in much of the Rio Grande area during this time and that large glaze-painted bowls were a necessary part of the communal feâsting associâted with this new ritual system. Graves and Eckert (rgg8) see the coinciding temporal and spatial distributions of glaze-painted pottery and a new rock art style, as well as a shared iconography between these materiâl traits, as indications that residents of the central and lower Rio Grande regions were conveying messages concerning their participation in a new belief system. The presence ofglâze wares at some central Rio Grande sites may reflect the participation of villagers in regional and interregional exchange netrvorks (Habicht-Mauche rgg5; Nelson and Habicht-Mauche, chap. rr, this vol.; Snow r98r). Intervillage interâction established through exchange may have provided greater sociopolitical security during the mas-

ofthe rzoos and r3oos. Participation in cert¿in exchange networks may have marked participation in regional alliances. Spielmann (1994) has suggested that regional alliances, or clustered confederacies, developed in the protohistoric Rio Grande region between politically equivalent villages for limited purposes, such âs mutual defense (Spielmann 1994:5o-5r). However, regional ties need not have been formal alliances between pueblos (HabichtMauche 1995); rather, they may have been loose social relationships between individuals from seParâte villages who were bound by kinship ties, reciprocal social relations, recurring economic interactions, and/or sive demographic upheaval (Braun and PIog r98z)

ritual obligations. Immigration, new ritu¿l practice, and exchange are not mutìJålly exclusive possibilities; as vessels may serve various utilitarian functions' so may they also be used in various social contexts. For example, glaze tech-

Black-on-White to Glaze-on-Red

/

165

This chapter briefly explores the adoption of glaze-painted porrery at four fourteenth-century Rio Grande sites (see figs. r.r and i.z) by exam_ ining various decorative ¿nd technologicâl cerâmic attributes. To explore which of the above social processes were related to the adoption of glaze technology, I examine how quickly glaze-painted pottery was âdopted at each site, the production source for glaze-painted pottery, and changes in design style and iconography. I find that glaze ware production and distri_ bution among these four villages varied greatly, and cannot be explained by a single social process.

Previous Explanations for the Adoption of Glaze Technotogy

In the central Rio Grande region, the shift from carbon_painted, white_ slipped pottery to glaze-painted, red-slipped pottery was a dramadc ftan_ sition for potters in terrns of both production technology and decora_ tion. Decoratively, the contrast between slip colors is probably the most visually striking difference. However, in many cases, the transition from white- to red-slipped porrery was also accompanied by a change in de_ sign layout and motifs (Graves and Eckert r99g). Tèchnically, the switch from carbon-rich paints to paints composed of lead_ and copper_bearing minerals is most notâble. However, a switch from reducing atmosphere to oxidizing atmosphere when firing pottery was also required. In some âreas, the shift in paint composition is ¿lso associated with a shift in tem_ per choice (Warren r976). These decorâtive and rechnical shifts required conscious choices on the part of Rio Grande potters.

The conscious adoption of glaze technology in the Rio Grande V¿l_ ley has most commonly been explained through immigration from the Western Pueblo region (Reed r949:r69-7o; Shepard ry42:rg7_gg;Wa:ren ry76), as a response to ritual developments sweeping over much of the Pueblo Southwest during the r3oos (Graves and Eckert r99g; Spiel_ mann rggS), or as transformation in exchange networks (Habicht_Mauche 1995; Herhahn, chap. ro, rhis vol.; Snow t98r). Because glaze recipes and an oxidizing firing atmosphere must be le¿rned eirher through trial and

error or from ânother potter, the rapid appearance of glaze technology throughout much of the Rio Grande region as an apparently fully de_ veloped technique led early researchers to hypothesize the presence of Western Pueblo immigrants (Shepard r94z). More recent research has

164

/

Suzanne

L. Ecke¡t

shown that glâze technology is not as difficult to learn as originally supposed (Herhahn 1995), and that massive immigration need not be used to explain its rapid spread throughout the Rio Grande region (Herhahn, chap. ro, this vol.).

Early glaze-painted vessels in the central Rio Grande region display iconic representations and distinctive slip-color combinations associated with the development ând spread ofa new ritual system in the eârly r3oos throughout much ofthe Pueblo world (E. C. Adams r99r; Crown 1994). Aspects of this new ritual system focused on fertility and community well-being, and may have helped to integrate newly aggregated populations (Crown 1994). Spielmann (1998:r54) has argued that a new ideology and ritual practices were adopted in much of the Rio Grande area during this time and that large glaze-painted bowls were a necessary part of the communal feâsting associâted with this new ritual system. Graves and Eckert (rgg8) see the coinciding temporal and spatial distributions of glaze-painted pottery and a new rock art style, as well as a shared iconography between these materiâl traits, as indications that residents of the central and lower Rio Grande regions were conveying messages concerning their participation in a new belief system. The presence ofglâze wares at some central Rio Grande sites may reflect the participation of villagers in regional and interregional exchange netrvorks (Habicht-Mauche rgg5; Nelson and Habicht-Mauche, chap. rr, this vol.; Snow r98r). Intervillage interâction established through exchange may have provided greater sociopolitical security during the mas-

ofthe rzoos and r3oos. Participation in cert¿in exchange networks may have marked participation in regional alliances. Spielmann (1994) has suggested that regional alliances, or clustered confederacies, developed in the protohistoric Rio Grande region between politically equivalent villages for limited purposes, such âs mutual defense (Spielmann 1994:5o-5r). However, regional ties need not have been formal alliances between pueblos (HabichtMauche 1995); rather, they may have been loose social relationships between individuals from seParâte villages who were bound by kinship ties, reciprocal social relations, recurring economic interactions, and/or sive demographic upheaval (Braun and PIog r98z)

ritual obligations. Immigration, new ritu¿l practice, and exchange are not mutìJålly exclusive possibilities; as vessels may serve various utilitarian functions' so may they also be used in various social contexts. For example, glaze tech-

Black-on-White to Glaze-on-Red

/

165

nology may have been associated with the adoption ofa new ritual system, but immigrants from the Western Pueblo region may have introduced that

ritual system. Similarly, glaze-painted, vessels may reflect participation in exchange networks between villagers who were bound .by similar belief systems. It is this possibility ofglaze-painted pottery being associated with multiple social processes that I explore in the next section.

n

Number PH 269 PH 258

I I

PH 140

I

PH 157

Black-on-White to Glaze-on-Red: The Case Studies

PH226

The Data Set

I examined

PH229

data from three central Rio Grande sites (see fig. r.z): Pueblo

del Encierro (I-a 7o), Tijeras Pueblo (n 58r), and Hummingbird Pueblo (r-e 578). For comparison, I also examined the northern Rio Grande site of Arroyo Hondo (n Iz). I relied on site reports from Pueblo del Encie'Warren rg8o), and rro (Snow tg76;Warren r976), Tijeras (Cordell r975; (Habicht-Mauche rg93a; Lang igg3; Olinger 1993). I was Arroyo Hondo also able to personally examine the glaze ware assernblage frorn each of these three sites. Data from Hummingbird Pueblo come entirely from my

own reseârch at that village (Eckert rggg, zoor). These sites were chosen because they are contemporaneous, well repirrted, have well-defined ceramic seriations, and provided the data necessary for my analysis. Although these sites all have complex occupation histories, it is the late-thirteenth- and fourteenth-century occupâtion at each site that I am concerned with here. At this time, Pueblo del Encierro consisted of at least seven pit rooms and an unknown number ofassociated surface rooms (Snow 1976). Tijeras Pueblo was initially occupied in the late rzoos and grew by accretion, so that by the r36os this site consisted ofapproximately

two hundred rooms (Cordell i975)..Arroyo Hondo h¿d two fourteenthcentury occupations, with a hiatus between them (Creamer r9g3): Component r (eo r3oo-r345) consisted oftwenty-four roomblocks organized around ten plazas; Component 2 (AD r37o r4r5) consisted ofnine roomblocks organized around three plazas. This latter component is estimated to have had approximately two hundred rooms. Although Hummingbird Pueblo was occupied in the l¿te thirteenth century, the size and layout of this early structure is uncertain. In the fourteenth century, Hummingbird Pueblo consisted ofapproximately two hundred rooms organized around at least three plâzâs (Eckert rg99; Eckert and Cordell zoo4). This study relies heavily on identifying decorative ceramic styles and

16ó

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Suzanne

L. Eckert

Glaze Rims

Wiyo B/w

Santa Fe B/w

Pit Room

PH223

II

PH 308

ll ll

I

-

I I

-

PH 293

earþ transition}, a{1ant' Fig. 9.1. Seriation of glaze rirns {including wares at Glaze A) and most common black-on-white *"i"r" ' -ir"tl-"t*Oa, and pithouse (from Wanen 1976)' de1 Encierro, broken down by

nrorìucdonproveniences.Howeve¡differentarchaeologistswithdiffersite (Eckert zoor; :;;;;;il0*"ions analyzed the artifacts frorn each datâ are Warren 1976, r98o)' As a result' the

*rì0"*-"n"n.tt" ,rot

r993a;

compatible. Fo'

"*ollÌilt, gl""

Helene Warren (1976) combined A ware' and Rio- G¡ande

"rrti..ty gl-. *u'",W"'t""' ãrltiotni ,Gl¿ze Judith Habichc ;;;;;"t"-i" counts from Puebio del Encierro' whilethese, types from

and Richard Lang (1993) separated when possible ,cr-uo Hi"¿á. r Ì,ave tried to contÃl for these differences analysis' such issues as they arise in the folìowing

M"".fr" itsn3r)

;;-;i*r.

The White Ware

to

Glaze Ware Transition

Thereisconsider¿blevari¿tioninhowrapidlytheglnewaretradition it ever or ."or"J ,¡" *rrne ware tradition ar any parricular village, -if for all four sites r"ilr""ã t,. Examination of ceramic seriadons created the two tradito discuss ho¡v much suggest it may be more âppropriâte to have quickly ìåiï"t"¡"no"u. o,,ce inirocluced, glaze w',e appears

9.r) and and Tijeras' glaze ,tl--t"rbO¿ a"eblo (see fig' 9 z) At Arroyo Hondo eventually conware completely replaced white ware' Glaze

pueblo del Encierro ,"îä*U ,n"î*, *hite w¿re at both

;;;" ;"á

Black-on-White to Glaze-on-Red

/

167

(see frg.

nology may have been associated with the adoption ofa new ritual system, but immigrants from the Western Pueblo region may have introduced that

ritual system. Similarly, glaze-painted, vessels may reflect participation in exchange networks between villagers who were bound .by similar belief systems. It is this possibility ofglaze-painted pottery being associated with multiple social processes that I explore in the next section.

n

Number PH 269 PH 258

I I

PH 140

I

PH 157

Black-on-White to Glaze-on-Red: The Case Studies

PH226

The Data Set

I examined

PH229

data from three central Rio Grande sites (see fig. r.z): Pueblo

del Encierro (I-a 7o), Tijeras Pueblo (n 58r), and Hummingbird Pueblo (r-e 578). For comparison, I also examined the northern Rio Grande site of Arroyo Hondo (n Iz). I relied on site reports from Pueblo del Encie'Warren rg8o), and rro (Snow tg76;Warren r976), Tijeras (Cordell r975; (Habicht-Mauche rg93a; Lang igg3; Olinger 1993). I was Arroyo Hondo also able to personally examine the glaze ware assernblage frorn each of these three sites. Data from Hummingbird Pueblo come entirely from my

own reseârch at that village (Eckert rggg, zoor). These sites were chosen because they are contemporaneous, well repirrted, have well-defined ceramic seriations, and provided the data necessary for my analysis. Although these sites all have complex occupation histories, it is the late-thirteenth- and fourteenth-century occupâtion at each site that I am concerned with here. At this time, Pueblo del Encierro consisted of at least seven pit rooms and an unknown number ofassociated surface rooms (Snow 1976). Tijeras Pueblo was initially occupied in the late rzoos and grew by accretion, so that by the r36os this site ...