Dolores Archaeological Program Technical Reports: Additive Technologies

The Additive Technologies Group of the Dolores Archaeological Program is responsible for Inventory and descriptive analyses of ceramic end worked vegetal materials that are recovered as part of archaeological surveys end excavations. Procedures for the analysls of ceramic materials were established In 1978 by William A. Lucius and have been implemented, with some changes, through 1984. The ceramics analysis system records temper, selected technological attributes, vessel form class, traditional Southwestern typological affiliation, and postfiring modifications for all ceramic items; within this system, quantities of materials are expressed in weights, counts, and rim counts. The analysis system is designed to describe sherds rather than vessels, and the presence of reconstructible vessels is denoted by labels attached to data lines that describe the sherds that comprise the vessels. Modification of the ceramics analysis system throughout its duration has resulted in some inconsistencies within the ceramics data file, and these inconsistencies may affect some interpretations. The worked vegetal material class represents a very diverse group of artifacts. Most Items are preserved only because they were charred at the time of their deposition, and the remnants are usually fragmentary. Types of materials include architectural construction materials that have been visibly altered, basketry fragments, cordage, and wooden artifact fragments. The diversity of forms precludes the use of computerized descriptive data files, and each item is given an individual written description. Descriptions focus on material identification technological attributes, form, decoration, and inferences of functions. Although descriptions are not computerized, inventory labels are present in the macrobotanical data file and can be accessed through the computer.