DETERMINING CHEMICAL SIGNATURES OF GEOLOGIC MATERIALS FOR ESTABLISHING PROVENANCE OF ANASAZI RED AND GRAY WARES USING ESEM-EDS AND ICP-MS, CHAMPAGNE SPRINGS RUINS, CO

Compositional analyses of prehistoric ceramics and geological materials allow archaeologists to establish provenance of artifacts through compositional analysis of materials used in prehistoric ceramic production. Where pottery clay pastes, tempering constituents, and decorative pigment resources originate from locally or regionally available geological and botanical materials, identifying their chemical composition, geographic location and distribution facilitates an understanding of socio-spatial and socioeconomic patterns among neighboring communities. Establishment of unique elemental chemical signatures in nearby geological source materials and prehistoric wares allows archaeologists to differentiate between locally manufactured and traded wares. Excavations at the Champagne Springs Ruins suggest occupation during the late Pueblo I (AD 700 – AD 900) to early Pueblo II (AD 900 TO AD 1100) periods. ESEM-EDS and ICP-MS are used to establish chemical signatures of potential source materials over a broad spectrum of elemental masses from nearby geological sources and excavated pottery sherds. The purpose of this research is to construct a geochemical and ceramic provenance reference frame from locally available geological materials and provide a comparative analysis of red and gray ware. Test plates produced from locally available clays, and igneous tempering materials were analyzed using ICP-MS. These analyses identify potential ambiguities in the often complex separation of geochemical signatures of individual constituents found in pottery sherds where bulk analysis provides identification of an amalgamation of artifact components separated only by multivariate statistical analyses. Where identification of geochemical signatures of prehistoric wares and local source materials establishes a local provenance, the traditional view of Dolores-area red wares having a manufacture of origin exclusively in southeastern Utah is thus disproved. Historic and contemporary research suggests that red wares recovered from southwestern Colorado excavations indicate trade with cultures in southeastern Utah, save for the absence of the establishment of provenance of materials for such wares locally.