Casas Grandes: A Fallen Trading Center of the Gran Chichimeca, Volume 6, Ceramics and Shell
Creators: name: Di Peso, Charles C.
name: Rinaldo, John B.
name: Fenner, Gloria J.
Publisher: name: Northland Press
Year: 1974
Subjects: subject: Hohokam
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/culture-keyword/21/hohokam
subject: Casas Grandes
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-name/279/casas-grandes
subject: Funerary and Burial Structures or Features
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/301/funerary-and-burial-structures-or-features
subject: Burial Pit
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/307/burial-pit
subject: Archaeological Feature
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/339/archaeological-feature
subject: Artifact Scatter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/340/artifact-scatter
subject: Hearth
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/343/hearth
subject: Commercial or Industrial Structures
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/280/commercial-or-industrial-structures
subject: Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/251/domestic-structure-or-architectural-complex
subject: Midden
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/347/midden
subject: Settlements
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/252/settlements
subject: Town / City
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/255/town-city
subject: Domestic Structures
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/256/domestic-structures
subject: House
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/259/house
subject: Post Hole / Post Mold
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/359/post-hole-post-mold
subject: Rock Alignment
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/360/rock-alignment
subject: Rock Shelter
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/265/rock-shelter
subject: Platform Mound
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/site-type/268/platform-mound
subject: Shell
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/14/shell
subject: Ceramic
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/material-type/1/ceramic
subject: Archaeological Overview
valueUri: https://core.tdar.org/browse/investigation-type/1/archaeological-overview

description: The value of ceramic analysis for chronologically organizing a series of unknown cultures in a particular region and of relating some of them synchronically cannot be denied. Unfortunately, this useful tool is sometimes given undue emphasis and is regarded in some instances as representative of the total culture. Such unbridled use is most dangerous because of the complex nature of pottery - its plasticity when formed, its chameleon-like character on firing, its relative abundance in use, and its durability in discarded sherd form. Yet these very factors, among others which make it a sensitive index to cultural shifts, are representative only receptacles were used, and even then pottery does not provide the complete picture. It is hoped that proper balance was achieved in this discussion of these various interpretive potentials. On the whole, the major aim was to describe the morphological characteristics of the ceramic materials at hand which were forthcoming from the excavated sites. All such data were then derived from the above-mentioned excavated materials with the exception of certain details which pertained to design layouts. In this case, painted vessels study were used to expand the knowledge of the excavated sample. Levels of abstraction in accordance with different bodies of data primarily because of the fact that the excavations produced sherds from both the southwest portion of the United States and the cultures of southern Mexico in a controlled situation. Some of these academic pursuits were fruitful, such as in the case of the study of the suggested preferences of certain pottery types for specialized purposes, i.e., for burial furniture or for cooking, while other approaches, such as a study of rim forms through time, yielded only the most tantalizing and elusive results.