The ultimate goal of ongoing technological investigations of Mesoamerican Thin Orange ceramics from central Mexico, and Central Asian Red Streak-Burnished ware from northern Afghanistan is to identify the loci of manufacture and determine the sociocultural mechanisms whereby these ceramics were distributed in their respective culture areas. The results of these technological, mineralogical, and petrographic investigations are summarized, and the suggested cultural mechanisms of distribution elaborated. The Mesoamerican ceramic has numerous variants based on aplastic analysis, and was manufactured primarily outside of theBasin of Mexico but also at the metropolis of Teotihuacan. The Afghan ware was apparently made in Baluchistan and transported northward, destined for the market centers of Central Asia. The results of these studies are discussed, and analytical problems and interpretational difficulties are noted at this interface between archaeological and physical scientific investigations. See also AATA 20-771.