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Pecos Pueblo
Prior to the 1780s, Pecos Pueblo, now part of the Pecos National Historical Park, was a large, powerful, and highly influential settlement in the landscape of the Southwestern United States. Its high elevation at ca. 7,000 feet made it a strong defensive site that allowed its residents to control trade and passage to parts of the West from settlements in the Great Plains. These factors helped Pecos become the longest, continuously occupied settlement of the ancestral Puebloans.

In the 1780s, that changed when disease from Spanish encounters, Comanche raids, and migration decreased the population significantly. In 1838, the settlement was declared abandoned.

History
Over the course of fifteen years, from 1914 to 1929, Alfred V. Kidder, his wife, and his crew undertook survey and excavation at Pecos. Through this work, they revealed the rich prehistory of Pecos. Kidder helped bring stratigraphy, a form of relative dating, to the Southwest. He was able to use stratigraphy due to the location and configuration of the settlement at Pecos. Kidder made special use of the highly stratified deposits of rubbish, known as middens.

The excavations at Pecos had the main objective of the study and analysis of Puebloan pottery. Kidder's ceramic analysis at Pecos, informed by the research of ceramic specialist Anna O. Shepard, led to a deeper understanding of the history of the site. Kidder developed the Pecos Classification that is used to describe the chronological prehistory of Ancestral Puebloan remains. Prior to Kidder's classification, sites of the Southwest were studied in the context of individual sites and not within a broader context of Ancestral Puebloan culture as a whole. The Pecos Classification was introduced at the Pecos Conference in 1927 and developed in subsequent years. This conference is still held annually.

The archaeological remains at Pecos are divided into two settlements: Forked Lightning Pueblo and the Pecos Mesa. The Forked Lightning Pueblo was inhabited first and is known as the predecessor of Pecos. Forked Lightning is characterized by smaller settlements. The Pecos Mesa later became the dominant dwelling site and home to the large villages that characterize Pecos as it is known today. Kidder hypothesized that Forked Lightning was abandoned in favor of Pecos due to the better defensive landscape of the mesa.

Ceramics
The Puebloans have been skilled potters and those at pre-Contact Pecos were no exception. Vessels of many shapes, sizes, and decorative styles are found in association with the archaeological site. The expansive types of pottery were made to be able to fit the lifestyle of people living at Pecos, meaning that vessels to carry water, serve and prepare food, agriculture, and for ritual ceremonies are all found. As Pecos acted as a gateway between the Great Plains and the rest of Pueblo territory in northern New Mexico, archaeologists found a variety of traded items within the archaeological deposits. This made it possible to study trade relationships between Pecos and outside groups.

The pottery of Pecos will be described below according to the wares that have been identified (please note that original classification names by Kidder will be named first followed by their current name if applicable):
 * Black-on-white wares (now known as Rio Grande White Ware), dating to Pueblo III using the Pecos classification. This ware is predominantly associated with potsherds associated with the Forked Lightning site, but can also be found at Pecos as an intrusive ware. This is an example of a trade ware. According to Charles Avery Amsden, the Black-on-white wares are an “exceptionally poor lot” and resemble the ceramics found within the San Juan tradition in Mesa Verde National Park. Black-on-white ware predominantly falls into the rough exterior category and is broken down into two types: Blue-gray and Biscuitoid. The other category is Polished Exterior Crackle type.


 * Biscuit A ware (now known as Abiquiu) and Biscuit B ware (now known as Bandelier).
 * Biscuit A is the earlier phase of the Biscuit ware dating to Pueblo III and IV. Biscuit A ceramics have exteriors that are not slipped or decorated while the interiors are decorated with black paint and slipped a lighter color. Decorations from Biscuit A are consistent with those found on both sherds and whole vessels.
 * Biscuit B dates from 1400-1550 A.D. This ware is different from Biscuit A in that Biscuit B is decorated on both the interior and exterior.


 * Modern painted wares were made sometime after the last glaze ware and can be dated from after the 1680s until Pecos was finally abandoned in the 1830s. They are not a common ware at Pecos.


 * Rio Grande Glaze Ware is broken down into six glaze types: Glaze A, Glaze B, Glaze C, Glaze D, Glaze E, and Glaze F (previously described as Glaze I-VI). The first of these, Glaze A, can be further broken down into three types seen at Pecos: Glaze I Red, Glaze 1 Yellow, and Local Glaze 1 Red. Prior to Glaze A, glazed vessels are rarely seen at Pecos. Glaze F is the last glazed type seen at Pecos and is described as “Degenerate Glaze” by Kidder.


 * Undecorated smooth wares are broken down into Plain Red and Plain Black. They are found in the same stratigraphic level as Glaze E and can be found until the abandonment of Pecos. This ware is usually only found as broken sherds since these were not made until the people at Pecos stopped burying their dead with pottery.


 * Culinary ware vessels were made for everyday household use. Culinary ware was used to contain food, hold water, store supplies, and cook. These vessels are not typically decorated or smoothed. Culinary ware is distinguishable due to the visible coils that remain from its construction.


 * Trade ware ceramic items that were not originally made in Pecos. These items give insight into the extent of trade between Pecos and surrounding areas. Some examples of identified trade wares come from Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico, Mesa Verde, and also Central Mexico.