Towards a Chronology of Brownware Pottery in the Western Great Basin: A Case Study from Owens Valley

Great Basin brownware is often perceived as highly variable and lacking distinct subdivisions. Combined with the lack of painted decoration, the result has been to lump all brownware into a single all-encompassing temporal category. This article examines this perception in the Owens Valley of California where pot sherds are often found associated with late prehistoric house floors. An analysis of these sherd assemblages reveals important changes in how pots were made through time and suggests changes in prehistoric human behavior.