Malpaso Valley

Combining multiple forms of analysis in their investigations of pottery manufacture in Northwest Mexico, Wells and Nelson infer aspects of the economic and political structure of the Malpaso Valley. Through analysis of clay deposits and sherds from sites in the La Quemada and Los PilariUos settlements, two distinct chemical compositions were identified indicating that the potters used at least two distinctly different raw material sources. 

Figure 1. The geology of the Malpaso Valley, showing the locations of La Quemada (the largest dot in the northeast quadrant), outlying settlements (represented by smaller dots), and the clay outcroppings (numbers 1 and 2).

Figure 3. Line graph of the frequencies of incised, engraved, and incised-engraved ceramics in the Malpaso Valley through time. Point 1 on the x-axis corresponds to the period (ca. A.D. 450-600) represented by Malpaso Complex incised-engraved ceramics (n=427), point 2 corresponds to the period (c. A.D. 600-750) represented by the La Quemada Complex incised-engraved ceramics (n=125), and point 3 corresponds to the period (c. A.D. 750-900) represented by the Murguia Complex incised-engraved ceramics (n=68).

Vargas, V. D. La Quemada-Malpaso Valley Archaeological Project Shell Aitifects. Unpublished manuscript, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. 

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