It all comes out in the wash: Actualistic petrofacies modeling of temper provenance, Tonto Basin, Arizona, USA

Prehistoric potters frequently tempered their pottery with sand, the proven ance of which can be established petrographically. In the Tonto Basin of ce ntral Arizona, the bedrock geology is highly variable, giving rise to geogr aphically unique sands. Zones of sands with similar compositions can be mod eled at an archaeologically relevant scale. Here we use the actualistic pet rofacies concept, the Gazzi-Dickinson point-counting technique, and multiva riate statistics to create a petrofacies model, then apply it to sand-tempe red utilitarian pottery recovered from three Tonto Basin project areas. Dat a analysis reveals strong temporal and spatial ceramic production and consu mption patterns. Production of pottery for exchange was established in at l east one petrofacies ca. A.D. 600-950, with increasing specialization throu gh time. By ca. A.D. 1150, corrugated wares had been added, and specialized production by ware was established in two petrofacies. Provenance evidence suggests different regional affiliations for groups in different parts of the basin. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.