Caitlin Wichlacz – Re-viewing the Dishes: Considering the place of Salado polychrome ceramics in the Phoenix Basin

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How were Salado polychrome (Roosevelt Red Ware) ceramics incorporated into Phoenix basin Hohokam ceramic assemblages during the late Classic period? Understanding the roles and relations of Salado pottery within local assemblages is important to building a better understanding of the social and material meanings of engagement with Salado ideas, objects, and practices. As simple as the idea may seem, situating Salado pottery in assemblage contexts proves to be quite challenging, and for a variety of surprising and illuminating reasons. This presentation explores a portion of my current research on vessel form analysis and explores what we can learn about archaeological research and the archaeological record by carefully examining both the data and challenges along the way.

Caitlin A. Wichlacz is interested in how traditions of archaeological thought and practice shape the knowledge that archaeologists construct about the past. Her research focuses primarily on ceramic materials in the American Southwest, most often through collections-based research, technological and archaeometric analytical methods, and experimental replication of pottery. Caitlin is currently a doctoral candidate at Arizona State University, and is completing a dissertation examining Salado polychrome ceramics in the Phoenix Basin of Arizona.

Suggested Readings

Crown, Patricia L.
1994    Ceramics and Ideology: Salado Polychrome Pottery. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.

Archaeology Southwest
2012     “A Complicated Pattern” Archaeology Southwest Magazine, Volume 26, Issues 3 and 4.

Archaeology Southwest
2017      “Phoenix Underground” Archaeology Southwest Magazine, Volume 31, Issues 2 and 3. (especially “Room for Debate: Salado in Phoenix” pg. 37-42.)