With National Science Foundation support Dr. David Abbott will conduct an analysis of ceramics collected from Hohokam sites located in Arizona's Phoenix Basin. He will focus on the early Sedentary period of Hohokam development and analyze potsherds carefully excavated from a number of sites. The geological region in which these are located is extremely diverse and the composition of sands and clays which potters employed varied significantly from subarea to subarea. Abbott's prior work has demonstrated that it is possible to examine sherd matrix and determine the source of the raw material. Through such microscopic and electron probe analysis he will determine the points of origin for thousands of sampled sherds. On this basis it is then possible to reconstruct sedentary period ceramic exchange systems and thus gain insight into social organization. Hohocam peoples were agriculturists who lived in a harsh semi-arid environment and who depended on large and complex irrigation systems to produce crops. Dr. Abbott has completed a similar analysis of ceramic exchange during the following Classic period and the results indicated that exchange occurred primarily within individual irrigation subsystems. This indicates that social organization and the control and management of irrigation were tied closely together. The Sedentary period work will shed light on how this system developed. Although canals were present during the Sedentary period, preliminary results indicate that exchange may not have followed the Classic pattern and were not closely tied to irrigation canals. It correct, this conclusion would contradict widely held archaeological assumptions. Archaeologists wish to understand how complex societies arose. This process often occurred in semi-arid environments and researchers have postulated that the need to develop and maintain irrigation systems played a central role. Dr. Abbott's research speaks directly to this question. It also sheds light on how people at a simple level of technology were able to subsist in harsh environmental conditions. It will provide data of interest to many archaeologists and shed new light on America's past.
