Ceramic distribution, migration and cultural interaction among late prehistoric (ca. 1300-200Â B.P.) hunter-gatherers in the San Diego region, Southern California

The composition of 40 pottery sherds from three separate excavation units at the Late Prehistoric (ca. 1300-200 B.P.) hunter-gatherer habitation site of Mine Wash (CA-SDI-813) in eastern San Diego County has been characterised by a combination of thin section petrography and geochemistry and compared to a database of raw materials and additional ceramic artefacts from across the region. This reveals a compositionally diverse pottery assemblage that contains ceramics from several non-local sources in the Colorado Desert to the east and the nearby Peninsular Range mountains to the west. Possible cultural mechanisms for the movement of pottery to Mine Wash are assessed, including seasonal migration between different landscape zones along ethnohistoric trails, trade and exchange, and settlement shift due to subsistence stress. Additionally, intra-site compositional variation in ceramics across the three excavation units is considered as evidence for the co-habitation of the site by several different social groups of hunter-gatherers.