Geologists use petrographic modal analysis to relate fluvial sand composition to source rock composition, thus establishing provenance. Archaeologists seeking to establish provenance of sand temper in pottery can use similar petrographic methods, but their finer scale of investigation requires more precise statistical tools than those employed by geologists. A quantitative method for performing that task is presented. It utilizes correspondence analysis and discriminant analysis of logratio transformed point‐count data to define petrofacies, or sand temper resource procurement zones. The procedure is illustrated with sand and sand‐tempered sherd samples collected from the Tonto Basin, central Arizona; temporal trends in utilitarian ceramic production c. AD 100–1350 are reviewed.
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