Through pieces of broken pottery, anthropologist Karen Harry examines the business world of the Hohokam Indians of southern Arizona, just north of the Tucson Basin.

By detailed examination of pottery sherds from two Hohokam communities of the early Classic period (A.D. 1110-1300), Harry sought to learn about political, social, and economic linkages among the peoples. Her study, which included chemical analysis of the sherds, focused on the role that elite leaders had in controlling that production and distribution of the high-quality, and apparently much desired, red-on-brown pottery.

"I have always been interested in the subject of prehistoric economic organization," she says. The Marana and Los Robles communities of the Hohokam had been well studied in other areas of their culture, giving Harry a foundation on which to build her own work.

"Contrary to the expectations generated by previous models, the production of the red-on-brown pottery was not under elite control. At the same time, however, not everyone had equal access to these items. The greatest number of vessels, and those of the highest quality, belonged to residents of the 'wealthiest' and most established settlements," Harry explains, adding that newcomers to the region appear to have been excluded from the established trade networks through which the pottery was circulated.

She argues that the exclusion of newcomers was an intentional strategy on the part of the elites to maintain and reinforce their superior social status.

Economic Organizations required Harry to do archeological excavations in 115-degree temperatures in southern Arizona. "Numerous friends volunteered to help me with these excavations, which certainly taught me what true friends are!" she says.

Now an assistant professor in the department of anthropology, Harry came to UNLV in 2000 from Austin, Texas, where she had been director of cultural resources for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for three years. She had held a number of positions with museums and government agencies before joining the UNLV faculty.