Ceramics

Decorated ceramics are a key source of the highly refined chronological information that is essential to accurate, cost-effective archaeological research. Desert Archaeology’s specialists have made significant refinements to both the Tucson Basin and Phoenix Basin ceramic typologies, resulting in much finer chronological resolution than was possible before and major new insights into social change in the past.

James M. Heidke has been the lead pottery and clay figurine analyst at Desert Archaeology since 1988. Mr. Heidke has worked with pre-European contact and Historic era collections from sites located throughout Arizona. His research has focused on ceramic typology and seriation, and their role in evaluating depositional integrity, temper-based studies of pottery provenance, as well as issues related to the organization of ceramic craft production and distribution, and container morphology and function, all using stringent quantitative methods.

Mr. Heidke is available to participate in cooperative research projects or to conduct analyses for specific projects. Email us for availability, scheduling, and current rates.