Mobility and ceramic paste choice: Petrographic analysis of prehistoric pottery from northeastern Colorado

Abstract

Pre-contact Native American sites in northeastern Colorado typically yield only a few sherds per site (if present), thus little information is known regarding ceramic manufacture by highly mobile groups in this area. Over the past fifty years, systematic archaeological research in Larimer County has generated a large sample of pottery for detailed study. Petrographic analysis of forty samples from ten sites on the low hills of the Front Range indicates a preference for non-local granitic raw materials. Group mobility clearly played a role in where pottery was made (western foothills) as opposed to where it is used (Colorado Piedmont). There are slight differences in paste and temper from the Early Ceramic (AD 150–1150) to the Late Ceramic periods (AD 1540–1860) that could reflect varying approaches to ceramic production as related to preferred source materials. The results suggest the pottery was made on a limited scale and likely for cooking.