Pottery Production and Microcosmic Organization: The Residential Structure of la Quemada, Zacatecas

Abstract

Incised-engraved pottery and clays from the Malpaso Valley region of northwest Mexico are chemically characterized to investigate the nature of residential organization of the capital settlement, La Quemada, during the Epiclassic period, ca. A.D. 600-900. Scanning-electron microprobe analysis of 115 pottery and 10 clay samples from settlements in the valley, and from middens associated with the civic-ceremonial core of La Quemada and flanking residential terraces, identifies locations of pottery production and indicates patterns of pottery circulation. The distribution of pottery at La Quemada, manufactured in specific outlying settlements, suggests that the social composition of the polity was reproduced in microcosm at the site, and that activities in civic-ceremonial zones involved a greater degree of separation among social groups than those in flanking residential areas.