ASM Occasional Electronic Papers No. 1: Homol'ovi IV

Chapter Eight:
Ceramics, cont.

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Structure 301

The ceramic assemblage of structure 301 is distributed much like that of structure 201; that is, predominantly from trash deposits beneath the floor of the structure accounting for 80% of the sherds from structure 301 (Table 8.27). The fill through floor assemblage of the structure is dominated by decorated ceramics, especially Winslow Orange Ware. This results from a similar pattern in structure 201 where a partially reconstructible vessel accounts for the high frequency of sherds.

Table 8.27 Ceramic Ware Inventory for Structure 301

PD/Ware	Fill	Fl. Fill	Floor/Feat.	Subfloor	TOTAL	Percent
Winslow Orange Ware	48	14	3	101	166	15.96
Tsegi Series		1		17	18	1.73
Jeddito Series	7			65	72	6.92
Jeddito Yellow Ware				1	1	0.10
White Mountain Red Ware				9	9	0.87
Roosevelt Red Ware				8	8	0.77
Hopi White Ware	1	2		9	12	1.15
Tusayan White Ware	9	6	1	73	89	8.56
Little Colorado White Ware				15	15	1.44
Cibola White Ware				18	18	1.73
Unknown Decorated	1	3	1	1	6	0.58
Total Decorated	66	26	5	317	414	39.81
Tusayan Gray Ware	32	11	11	196	250	24.04
Little Colorado Gray Ware	7	2	2	37	48	4.62
Homolovi Orange Ware	10	1	2	45	58	5.58
Homolovi Gray Ware	1	1		42	44	4.23
Alameda Brown Ware	9	9	3	154	175	16.83
Mogollon Brown Ware	1			5	6	0.58
San Francisco Gray Ware					0	0.00
Unknown Plain	3	6	3	33	45	4.33
Total Plain	63	30	21	512	626	60.19
TOTAL	129	56	26	829	1040	100.02

The subfloor assemblage is a little different from the fill and floor fill in having fewer Winslow Orange Ware than the site average while still having 3% more decorated ceramics. This is due to higher frequencies in almost every other decorated ware than the site average, including Jeddito Series, White Mountain Red Ware, Roosevelt Red Ware, Tsegi Series, and Little Colorado White Ware (Table 8.29). Two sherds of St. Johns Polychrome are among the White Mountain Red Ware along with one Pinto Polychrome in the Roosevelt Red Ware. Overlap of the production of these two types is between 1280 and 1300 (see Table 8.22). For the plain wares, Tusayan Gray Ware is significantly under-represented making up less than a quarter of the assemblage. The combination of Homolovi Gray and Orange wares account for over 10.5%, nearly double their site average. Locally produced plain wares dominate the Homol'ovi III assemblage, accounting for over 95% in structure 34, the earliest excavated structure at Homol'ovi III. In contrast, Tusayan Gray Ware accounted for less than 2% of the gray ware assemblage in this structure Lyons and Hays-Gilpin 2001:table 8.9). In contrast, at Homol'ovi IV, Tusayan Gray Ware accounts for 36% in contrast to the Homolovi plain wares, which account for less than 4% (Table 8.1). Although the differences between Homol'ovi III and IV may not be all temporal, the higher frequency in the fill and subfloor assemblages of structure 301 suggest that the transition from imported to locally produced gray wares may be taking place during the time structure 301 was built, used, and abandoned. Structure 34 is dated to the 1280s at Homol'ovi III, suggesting the structure 301 assemblage might date to this decade (Adams 2001:93-96).

Structure 404

Structure 404 is the highest upslope structure excavated by HRP at Homol'ovi IV. Its fill was considerably disturbed resulting in only 69 sherds attributable to undisturbed deposits (Table 8.28). All the ceramics come from the fill because the structure was built on and around a boulder. Nearly half the assemblage is Tusayan Gray Ware with Little Colorado Gray Ware another 19%. Only 17% of the assemblage is decorated split between 9 sherds of Tuwiuca Orange and 3 of Jeddito Black-on-orange.

Table 8.28 Ceramic Ware Inventory for Structure 404

PD/Ware	Fill	TOTAL	Percent
Winslow Orange Ware	9	9	13.04
Tsegi Series			0.00
Jeddito Series	3	3	4.35
Jeddito Yellow Ware			0.00
White Mountain Red Ware			0.00
Roosevelt Red Ware			0.00
Hopi White Ware			0.00
Tusayan White Ware			0.00
Little Colorado White Ware			0.00
Cibola White Ware			0.00
Unknown Decorated			0.00
Total Decorated	12	12	17.39
Tusayan Gray Ware	34	34	49.28
Little Colorado Gray Ware	13	13	18.84
Homolovi Orange Ware			0.00
Homolovi Gray Ware			0.00
Alameda Brown Ware	10	10	14.49
Mogollon Brown Ware			0.00
San Francisco Gray Ware			0.00
Unknown Plain			0.00
Total Plain	57	57	82.61
TOTAL	69	69	100.00

Conclusions

The ceramic assemblage recovered during one summer of excavations from Homol'ovi IV reflects a broad cross-section of wares and types produced on the southern Colorado Plateau and through the Little Colorado River Valley during the latter half of the 13th century. The assemblage reflects the beginnings of the Winslow Orange Ware tradition that flourished through the mid-1300s in later villages to the east of Homol'ovi IV. As noted by Lyons (2001, 2003) and Hays et al. (1996), the Winslow Orange Ware tradition is the locally produced version of various ceramic traditions being practiced by villages occupying the Hopi Mesas at the same time. This is especially true in the strong stylistic similarity between Jeddito Black-on-orange, produced on and around the Hopi Mesas, and Tuwiuca Black-on-orange, produced at Homol'ovi IV (Lyons 2001; Hays et al. 1996). Tuwiuca Orange and Black-on-orange account for 95% of the types in the Winslow Orange Ware assemblage.

Chronologically, the tree-ring dated ceramics date the occupation of Homol'ovi IV as no earlier than 1250 and no later than 1300, with most likely dates of founding in the 1250s and abandonment in the 1280s. Dating of the founding of Homol'ovi III to the 1280s (Adams 2001, 2003), suggests the one may have been abandoned when the other was founded. Adams (2003) suggests a strong possibility that the occupants of Homol'ovi IV founded or moved to Homol'ovi I.

The ceramic assemblage also clearly indicates the strong trade ties maintained by Homol'ovi IV with its neighbors. The largest percentage of the exchanged assemblage originated to the north, probably villages near the Hopi Mesas, which accounts for 51% of the assemblage (Table 8.1). The next highest frequency at 14% is Alameda Brown Ware, which was made in a few villages on Anderson Mesa (Bernardini and Brown 2004). Locally produced ceramics account for only 22% of Homol'ovi IV ceramics. A total of 7.7% originated in the Hopi Buttes between Homol'ovi and the Hopi Mesa; whereas, the remainder of the identifiable assemblage (3.35%) originated from the south or southeast in the White Mountains and Mogollon Rim regions. Homol'ovi IV was situated to facilitate exchange between Hopi Mesa villages and those on Anderson Mesa. Winslow Orange Ware and later Jeddito Yellow Ware dominate the decorated assemblages at Anderson Mesa villages (Bernardini and Brown 2004).

Table 8.29 Ceramic Ware Inventory for All Structures

PD/Ware	TOTAL	Percent
Winslow Orange Ware	916	14.28
Tsegi Series	29	0.45
Jeddito Series	436	6.80
Jeddito Yellow Ware	59	0.92
White Mountain Red Ware	22	0.34
Roosevelt Red Ware	15	0.23
Hopi White Ware	106	1.65
Tusayan White Ware	414	6.45
Little Colorado White Ware	42	0.65
Cibola White Ware	114	1.78
Unknown Decorated	100	1.56
Total Decorated	2253	35.13
Tusayan Gray Ware	2304	35.92
Little Colorado Gray Ware	389	6.06
Homolovi Orange Ware	158	2.46
Homolovi Gray Ware	213	3.32
Alameda Brown Ware	929	14.48
Mogollon Brown Ware	12	0.19
San Francisco Gray Ware	1	0.02
Unknown Plain	155	2.42
Total Plain	4161	64.87
TOTAL	6414	99.98

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