Support is requested for a study of regional interaction and ceramic exchange in the early Pueblo periods (A.D. 800-1050) of the northern part of the American Southwest. The study focuses on understanding changes in patterns of ceramic exchange concurrent with a contraction of zones of ceramic design style and an increase in social integration. The research will build upon an on-going study of ceramic design style from this period. The composition of black-on-white painted ceramics from between five and nine sites in the periods before and after the contraction of style zones will be analyzed using instrumental neutron activation analysis, augmented by X-ray diffraction and petrographic analysis. This information will be used to evaluate models of regional exchange and interaction. Results of the compositional analysis, in conjunction with the stylistic analysis, will contribute to an understanding of the relationship os style (information exchange) and material exchange. The composition analyses will be conducted through the Smithsonian Institution's Conservation Analytical Laboratory with Dr. Ronald Bishop as principal advisor. The applicant has had previous experience with the technical analysis of ceramics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Material Research in Archaeology and Ethnology. The research is proposed for a one year period, beginning January 1990.