Pigment Processing at Homol'ovi III: A Preliminary Study

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Abstract
During analysis of the pigment-stained ground stone artifacts from Homol'ovi III, a late thirteenth to fourteenth century Western Anasazi pueblo near Winslow, Arizona, problems were encountered identifying the artifacts with red pigment on their use-surfaces. In order to solve these problems and to learn more about pigment-processing at Homol'ovi III, information from experiments designed to simulate prehistoric pigment processing was combined with the microscopic examination of wear on the use-surfaces of ground stone tools. Although the results of this study are preliminary, we were able to distinguish between naturally occurring and processed hematite, between specular hematite and hematitic mudstone, and between grinding dry hematite and mixing ground hematite with water. Further examination of the pigment-processing tools from Homol'ovi III suggests that there may have been differences in how residents used different kinds of hematite. This study also demonstrates that relying solely on morphological characteristics to infer artifact use can be misleading.

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