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Ash is an important and yet understudied aspect of ritual deposition in the archaeological record of North America. Ash has been found in a wide variety of contexts across many regions and often it is associated with rare or unusual objects or in contexts that suggest its use in the transition or transformation of houses and ritual features. Drawn from across the U.S. and Mesoamerica, the chapters in this volume explore the use, meanings, and cross-cultural patterns present in the use of ash. and highlight the importance of ash in ritual closure, social memory, and cultural transformation.
“This volume is an outstanding contribution to North American anthropology and archaeology, and an excellent starting point for research into related topics here and elsewhere…[It] is a fantastic resource for those investigating ash and all its related processes and concepts.” • Anthropos
“The combination of solid methodology and sophisticated theory places the works in this volume within the broader movement of understanding social action and meaning in archaeology and provide a path researchers can follow in other areas as research in this area continues in the future.” From the Afterword, Tammy Stone, University of Colorado, Denver
Barbara Roth is Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her recent research has focused on changes in household and community organization that occur as groups become more sedentary and dependent on agriculture and move from pithouses to pueblos in the Mimbres Mogollon region of southwestern New Mexico.
List of Illustrations
Introduction: The Deposition and Manipulation of Ash in the Past
E. Charles Adams and Barbara J. Roth
Part I: Ash as a Transformative Agent
Chapter 1. The Ritual Closing of Domestic Structures in the Mimbres Mogollon Region
Barbara J. Roth
Chapter 2. Complex Closure Practices Involving Ash at a Small Pueblo in Northeastern Arizona
E. Charles Adams
Chapter 3. Sequencing Termination Events: Preparing Hearths for the Ritual Decommissioning of Ancestral Pueblo Pit Structures in the Northern U.S. Southwest
Susan C. Ryan
Chapter 4. Symbolic Associations: Assessing the Co-occurrence of Turquoise and Ash in the Ancient U.S. Southwest
Samantha G. Fladd, Saul L. Hedquist, E. Charles Adams, and Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa
Chapter 5. Fire, Ash and Sanctuary: Pyrotechnology as Protection in the Pre-Colonial Northern Rio Grande
Michael A. Adler
Chapter 6. Burned Roofs and Cultural Traditions: Renewing and Closing Houses in the Ancient Villages of the Middle Fraser Canyon, British Columbia
Anna Marie Prentiss, Alysha Edwards, Ashley Hampton, Ethan Ryan, Kathryn Bobolinski, and Emma Vance
Chapter 7. Agentive Ash and Dispersed Power in the Cahokia Mississippian World
Melissa R. Baltus and Sarah E. Baires
Chapter 8. Townhouses, Hearths, Fire, Smoke, Ash, and Cherokee Towns in Western North Carolina
Christopher B. Rodning
Chapter 9. Ash as an Agent of Transformation in Iroquoian Society
William Fox
Part II: Ash and Ritual
Chapter 10. Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust in Caddoan Mortuary Ritual
Marvin Kay
Chapter 11. Ashes for Fertility
Cheryl Claassen
Chapter 12. Ashes, Arrows, and Sorcerers
William H. Walker and Judy Berryman
Chapter 13. Divine Food and Fiery Covenants: The Significance of Ash in Ancient Maya Religion
James L. Fitzsimmons
Afterword
Tammy Stone