Investigating the intersections between the archaeological and geological components of the Grand Canyon landscape from a geoarchaeological perspective on ceramics and sources

This dissertation investigates fundamental problems surrounding the provenance and technology of Ancestral Puebloan ceramics from the eastern Grand Canyon region of northern Arizona. The analytical frameworks of the research are grounded in geology and materials science, and the dissertation explores novel isotopic techniques for characterization of archaeological ceramics and geological sources of ceramic raw materials.;The majority of the dissertation focuses on two ceramic traditions in the Upper Basin of the Coconino Plateau during the period A.D. 800-1200: (1) Tusayan Gray Ware (TGW), associated with the "Kayenta Anasazi"; and (2) San Francisco Mountain Gray Ware (SFMGW), associated with the "Cohonina." Given that: (1) gray-ware ceramics are conventionally assumed to have been made with local materials wherever they are found in abundance; (2) both TGW and SFMGW occur in abundance in the Upper Basin; and (3) a single geological formation is the parent for all ceramic materials within "local" resource catchments (as defined by archaeological models); then TGW and SFMGW recovered from the Upper Basin should have similar mineralogical and geochemical compositions that match those of local materials.;Collectively, petrographic, Sr isotopic, and Pb isotopic analyses establish that TGW and SFMGW ceramics are constituted of materials that are significantly different in composition and geological origin. Moreover, the likely source materials for SFMGW are non-local with respect to the archaeological project area, suggesting that gray-ware ceramics were transported significant distances to the Upper Basin. In short, it appears that conventional archaeological assumptions about gray-ware ceramics and their sources do not hold up under analytical scrutiny; by extension, corollary assumptions about the significance of gray wares as markers of archaeological groups are also drawn into question.;The dissertation also presents an investigation of the compositional and morphological attributes of black paints on Ancestral Puebloan white-ware ceramics. This research demonstrates that the compositional contrasts between the black paints and white slips do not involve the elements traditionally identified as colorants in black-on-white Ancestral Puebloan ceramics, presenting an archaeometric enigma that highlights the need for additional analytical work on a problem that has long been considered well-characterized.