Native American pottery is an art form with at least a 7500-year history in
the Americas
The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
Along with th ...
. Pottery is fired ceramics with clay as a component. Ceramics are used for utilitarian cooking vessels, serving and storage vessels, pipes, funerary urns,
censers, musical instruments, ceremonial items, masks, toys, sculptures, and a myriad of other art forms.
Due to their resilience, ceramics have been key to learning more about
pre-Columbian indigenous cultures.
Materials and techniques
The
clay body is a necessary component of pottery. Clay must be mined and purified in an often laborious process, and certain tribes have ceremonial protocols to gathering clay. Different tribes have different processes for processing clay, which can include drying in the sun, soaking in water for days, and repeatedly running through a screen or sieve.
Acoma and other Pueblo pottery traditionally pound dry clay into a powder and then remove impurities by hand, then running the dry powder through a screen, mixing it with a dry temper, and then mixing water to create a plastic paste.
In preparing the clay, potters spend hours wedging it to remove air pockets and humidity that could easily cause it to explode during firing. The clay then needs to "cure" over time.
Coiling is the most common means of shaping ceramics in the Americas. In coiling, the clay is rolled into a long, thin strands that are coiled upon each other to build up the shape of the pottery. While the potter builds the coils up, she also blends them together until there was no trace of the ropes of clay entwined to form the pot, no deviation in the thickness of the walls, and therefore no weaknesses.
Potter's wheel
In pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping (known as throwing) of clay into round ceramic ware. The wheel may also be used during the process of trimming excess clay from leather-hard dried ware that is stiff but malleable, ...
s were not used prior to European contact and are only used today by a limited number of
Native American art
Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic practices of the indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present. These include works from South America and North America, which includes ...
ists.
Pinch pots and other small clay objects could be formed directly by hand.
Hohokam
Hohokam () was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BC. Archaeologists disagree about ...
potters and their descendants in the
American Southwest
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado ...
employed the
paddle-and-anvil technique, in which the interior clay wall of a pot was supported by an anvil, while the exterior was beaten with a paddle, smoothing the surface. In precontact South America, ceramics were mass-produced using molds.
Slip is a liquid clay suspension of mineral pigments applied to the ceramics before firing. Slips are typically red, buff, white, and black; however,
Nazca culture ceramic artists in
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
perfected 13 distinct colors of slips. They also used a hand-rotated turntable that allowed all sides of a ceramic piece to be painted with ease. These were first used in 500 BCE and continue to be used today. Slips can be applied overall in washes, creating large color fields, often with cloth, or they can be painted in fine detail with brushes.
Yucca
''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish ...
leaves, chewed slightly to loosen fibers, make excellent brushes that are still in use today in the American Southwest.
Negative painting is a technique employed by precontact
Mississippian
Mississippian may refer to:
* Mississippian (geology), a subperiod of the Carboniferous period in the geologic timescale, roughly 360 to 325 million years ago
*Mississippian culture, a culture of Native American mound-builders from 900 to 1500 AD ...
potters in the
Eastern Woodlands, Mayan potters in Mesoamerica, and others, which involves covering the ceramic piece in beeswax or another resist, incising a design in the resist, then soaking the piece with a slip. In the firing process the resists melts away, leaving the colored design.
While still green, pottery can be incised with designs. Cords, textiles, baskets, and corncobs have been rolled over wet clay, both as a decoration and to improve heat dispersion in cooking pots. Carved wood or ceramic stamping paddles are used throughout the
Southeastern Woodlands
Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the nor ...
to create repeating designs. Clay can also be added to the main ceramic structure to build up designs.
Before firing, ceramics can be
burnish
Burnishing may refer to:
* Burnishing (metal), plastic deformation of a surface due to sliding contact with another object
* Burnishing (pottery), pottery polishing treatment
See also
*
{{Disambiguation ...
ed or polished to a fine sheen with a smooth instrument, usually a stone.
Glazes are seldom used by indigenous American ceramic artists. Grease can be rubbed onto the pot as well.
[
Prior to contact, pottery was usually open-air fired or pit fired; precontact ]Indigenous peoples of Mexico
Indigenous peoples of Mexico ( es, gente indígena de México, pueblos indígenas de México), Native Mexicans ( es, nativos mexicanos) or Mexican Native Americans ( es, pueblos originarios de México, lit=Original peoples of Mexico), are those ...
used kilns extensively. Today many Native American ceramic artists use kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...
s. In pit-firing, the pot is placed in a shallow pit dug into the earth along with other unfired pottery, covered with wood and brush, or dung, then set on fire whereupon it can harden at temperatures of 1400 degrees or more. Finally, the ceramics surface is often polished with smooth stones.
Tempers
Tempers are non-plastic materials added to clay to prevent shrinkage and cracking during drying and firing of vessels made from the clay. Tempers may include:
*Bone;
* Chaff;[
*Charcoal;
*]Wood ash
Wood ash is the powdery residue remaining after the combustion of wood, such as burning wood in a fireplace, bonfire, or an industrial power plant. It is largely composed of calcium compounds along with other non-combustible trace elements prese ...
(cariapé);
*Grit
Grit, Grits, or Gritty may refer to:
Food
* Grit (grain), bran, chaff, mill-dust or coarse oatmeal
* Grits, a corn-based food common in the Southern United States
Minerals
* Grit, winter pavement-treatment minerals deployed in grit bins
* ...
;[
*Sand, crushed ]sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
;
*Crushed limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...
;
*Crushed igneous rock
Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or l ...
s, such as volcanic rock
Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcan ...
, feldspar
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feld ...
, or mica
Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...
;[
* Grog;]
* Plant fiber;
*Mollusc shell
The mollusc (or molluskOften spelled mollusk shell in the USA; the spelling "mollusc" are preferred by ) shell is typically a calcareous exoskeleton which encloses, supports and protects the soft parts of an animal in the phylum Mollusca, which ...
s, freshwater and marine (sometimes fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
ized), crushed;[
*Freshwater ]Sponge spicule
Spicules are structural elements found in most sponges. The meshing of many spicules serves as the sponge's skeleton and thus it provides structural support and potentially defense against predators.
Sponge spicules are made of calcium carbon ...
s.["Pelotes Island Nature Preserve - Woodland Period - St. Johns Cultures - 500 BC to 1500 AD."]
Retrieved 5 November 2011
Not all Indigenous American pottery requires added tempers; some Hopi
The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...
potters use pure kaolin clay that does not require tempering. Some clays naturally contain enough temper that they do not required additional tempers. This includes mica or sand in clays used in some Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking ( Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the olde ...
, Picuris Pueblo
Picuris Pueblo (; Tiwa: P'įwweltha ’ī̃wːēltʰà is a historic pueblo in Taos County, New Mexico, United States. It is also a census-designated place (CDP) and a federally recognized tribe of Native American Pueblo people. The 2010 ...
, and Hopi pottery,[ and sponge spicules in the clay used to produce the "chalky ware" of the ]St. Johns culture
The St. Johns culture was an archaeological culture in northeastern Florida, USA that lasted from about 500 BCE (the end of the Archaic period) until shortly after European contact in the 17th century. The St. Johns culture was present along the ...
.[
Ceramics are often used to identify archaeological cultures. The type of temper (or mix of tempers) used helps to distinguish the ceramics produced by different cultures during particular time periods. For example, the Hohokam used schist containing silver mica as a temper in their plainware; the shiny particles of the mica gave the pottery a mystical shimmer. Grog, sand, and sandstone were all used by Ancestral Pueblo people and other Southwestern cultures.] Crushed bone was used as temper in at least some ceramics at a number of sites in Texas. In the Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern po ...
, the earliest ceramics were tempered with fiber such as Spanish moss and palmetto
Palmetto (meaning "little palm") may refer to:
Palms
Several small palms in the Arecaceae (palm tree) family:
*in the genus '' Sabal'':
**Bermuda palmetto, ''Sabal bermudana''
**Birmingham palmetto, ''Sabal'' 'Birmingham'
**Dwarf, or bush palm ...
leaves. In Louisiana, fiber as tempering was replaced first by grog and later by shell. In peninsular Florida and coastal Georgia sand replaced fiber as tempering. Still later, freshwater sponge spicules became an important temper in the "chalky ware" of the St. Johns culture
The St. Johns culture was an archaeological culture in northeastern Florida, USA that lasted from about 500 BCE (the end of the Archaic period) until shortly after European contact in the 17th century. The St. Johns culture was present along the ...
in northeastern Florida.[ Locally produced ceramics of the Lucayan people in the ]Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archi ...
were characterized by crushed conch
Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends).
In North Am ...
shell tempering, as opposed to the quartz sand-tempered ware imported from Hispaniola
Hispaniola (, also ; es, La Española; Latin and french: Hispaniola; ht, Ispayola; tnq, Ayiti or Quisqueya) is an island in the Caribbean that is part of the Greater Antilles. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and t ...
.
The choice of temper used in ceramics was constrained by what was available, but changes in the choice of temper can provide clues to influence and trade relations between groups. Shell-tempered ware was produced sporadically in various places across the eastern United States, but in the late Woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
and early Mississippian
Mississippian may refer to:
* Mississippian (geology), a subperiod of the Carboniferous period in the geologic timescale, roughly 360 to 325 million years ago
*Mississippian culture, a culture of Native American mound-builders from 900 to 1500 AD ...
periods it became the predominant temper used across much of the Mississippi Valley
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
and middle gulf coast
The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Missis ...
, and a major defining characteristic of Mississippian culture pottery
Mississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. It is often characterized by the adoption and use of riverine ( ...
.
Origin and spread
The earliest ceramics known from the Americas have been found in the lower Amazon Basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...
. Ceramics from the Caverna da Pedra Pintada
Caverna da Pedra Pintada (Painted Rock Cave ), is an archaeological site in northern Brazil, with evidence of human presence dating ca. 11,200 years ago.Saraceni, Jessica E. and Adriana Franco da Sá"People of South America."''Archaeology.'' Vol. ...
, near Santarém, Brazil, have been dated to between 7,500 and 5,000 years ago
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hour ...
. Ceramics from Taperinha, also near Santarém, have been dated to 8,000 to 7,000 years ago. Some of the sherds
This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains.
A
B
C
D
E
F
...
at Taperinho were shell-tempered, which allowed the sherds themselves to be radiocarbon dated. These first ceramics-making cultures were fishers and shellfish-gatherers.
Ceramics appeared next across northern South America and then down the western side of South America and northward through Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in southern North America and most of Central America. It extends from approximately central Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica. W ...
. Ceramics of the Alaka culture
In Hinduism, Alaka (Sanskrit: अलक), which is also called ''Alakapuri or Alkavati'', is a mythical city. It is the home of Kubera, the king of the Yakshas and the lord of wealth. The Mahabharata mentions this city as the capital of the Yaksh ...
in Guyana have been dated to 6,000 to 4,500 years ago. Ceramics of the San Jacinto culture in Colombia have been dated to about 4530 BCE, and at Puerto Hormiga, also in Colombia, to about 3794 BCE. Ceramics appeared in the Valdivia culture in Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar language, Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechuan ...
around 3200 BCE, and in the Pandanche culture in Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
around 2460 BCE.
The spread of ceramics in Mesoamerica came later. Ceramics from Monagrillo in Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
have been dated to around 2140 BCE, from Tronadora in Costa Rica to around 1890 BCE, and from Barra in the Soconusco of Chiapas to around 1900 BCE. Ceramics of the Purrón tradition in southcentral Mexico
Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...
have been dated to around 1805 BCE, and from the Chajil tradition of northcentral Mexico, to around 1600 BCE.
The appearance of ceramics in the Southeastern United States
The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern po ...
does not fit the above pattern. Ceramics from the middle Savannah River in Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to t ...
and South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = G ...
(known as Stallings, Stallings Island, or St. Simons) have been dated to about 2888 BCE (4500 BP), and ceramics of the Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
and Norwood cultures in northern Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
to around 2460 BCE (4300 BP) (all older than any other dated ceramics from north of Colombia). Ceramics appeared later elsewhere in North America. Ceramics reached southern Florida ( Mount Elizabeth) by 4000 BP, Nebo Hill (in Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
) by 3700 BP, and Poverty Point (in Louisiana) by 3400 BP.
Cultural regions
North America
Arctic
Several Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, ...
groups, such as the Netsilik, Sadlermiut, Utkuhiksalingmiut, and Caribou Inuit (Qaernerimiut) created utilitarian pottery in historic times, primarily to store food. In Rankin Inlet
Rankin Inlet ( iu, Kangiqliniq; Inuktitut syllabics: ᑲᖏᕿᓂᖅ or ''Kangirliniq'', ᑲᖏᖅᖠᓂᖅ, or ''Kangir&iniq'' meaning ''deep bay/inlet'') is an Inuit hamlet on Kudlulik Peninsula in Nunavut, Canada. It is the largest hamlet an ...
, Nunavut
Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...
, Canada, when the mine that employed much of the community closed down, the national government created the Rankin Inlet Ceramics Project, whose wares were successfully exhibited in Toronto in 1967. The project foundered but a local gallery revived interest in Inuit ceramics in the 1990s.
Eastern Woodlands
* Hopewell pottery is the ceramic tradition of the various local cultures involved in the Hopewell tradition (ca. 200 BCE to 400 CE) and are found as artifacts in archeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast.
*Mississippian culture pottery
Mississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. It is often characterized by the adoption and use of riverine ( ...
is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building large, ear ...
(800–1600 CE) found as artifacts in archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...
s in the American Midwest and Southeast.
Southeastern Woodlands
Geological studies show that certain areas of the southeastern portion of North America are rich in kaolins and ball clays (Hosterman, USGS), the types of plastic clays best suited for pottery. Clay beds which still produce ceramic clays are from primary and secondary deposits formed in the Late Paleocene and Early Miocene Epochs in formations that formed the Gulf Coastal Plain
The Gulf Coastal Plain extends around the Gulf of Mexico in the Southern United States and eastern Mexico.
This coastal plain reaches from the Florida Panhandle, southwest Georgia, the southern two-thirds of Alabama, over most of Mississippi, we ...
. According to all geological surveys the entire southeastern portion of the continent has abundant clay deposits, with the exception of all of south Florida and a portion of western central Florida (Calver) (Matson).
Fiber-tempered ceramics associated with shell midden
A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ec ...
s left by Late Archaic
Archaic is a period of time preceding a designated classical period, or something from an older period of time that is also not found or used currently:
*List of archaeological periods
**Archaic Sumerian language, spoken between 31st - 26th cent ...
hunter-fisher-gatherers appeared in the Atlantic coastal plain
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe a ...
of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina starting in 2500 BC. The earliest attested pottery is in the Stallings culture area, around the middle Savannah River. Fiber-tempered pottery of the Orange culture
The Orange period or Orange culture was a late-Archaic archaeological culture along the eastern side of the Florida peninsula, from about 4,000 years ago to about 2,500 or 3,000 years ago. The Orange period is largely defined by the presence of Or ...
in northeast Florida has been dated to 2000 BC or a bit earlier. Fiber-tempered pottery of very similar form spread along coasts and river valleys of the Southeastern United States from the Atlantic coast into Alabama, reaching northwestern Florida ( Norwood culture) and the Gulf coast by 1300 BC, the interior Middle South by 1100, and Poverty Point by 1000 BC.
Thoms Creek ceramics closely resembled Stallings ceramics, but used more sand and less fiber as temper than Stalling or Orange ware. Thoms Creek ceramics were largely contemporary with Stalling and Orange ceramics, although no Thoms Creek ceramics have been found that are as early as the earliest Stallings. Thoms Creek ceramics overlapped Stallings ceramics in northern Georgia and southern South Carolina, but were the dominant tradition north of the Santee River into North Carolina.
The similarities of the Stallings series ceramics to the earlier Puerto Hormiga ceramics of Colombia, which were both associated with shell rings, and the presence of winds and ocean currents favoring journeys from South America to the Southeastern United States, led James A. Ford
James Alfred Ford (February 12, 1911–February 25, 1968) was an American archaeologist. He was born in Water Valley, Mississippi, in February 1911. While growing up in the region, where ancient earthwork mounds are visible, he became interested ...
, among other archaeologists, to offer the hypothesis that the two areas had connections, and that the technology of fiber-tempered ceramics in the southeastern United States had been imported from Colombia. Other archaeologists have noted that there are no known archaeological sites between Colombia and Florida that are of a type or age consistent with such connections, and that the cultural traditions of the Southeastern United States show no significant changes associated with the appearance of ceramics, indicating that there was no migration or people, and no transfer of technology or other elements of culture, other than the appearance of ceramics.
Later significant developments in ceramics in the Southeastern Woodlands included Mississippian culture pottery
Mississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture (800 to 1600 CE) found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. It is often characterized by the adoption and use of riverine ( ...
in the Mississippi River valley, and Weedon Island pottery, a style of pottery used primarily in ceremonial contexts and high status burials, produced and traded along the Gulf of Mexico coast from southwestern Florida to the Florida panhandle
The Florida Panhandle (also West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida; it is a salient roughly long and wide, lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia on the north, and the G ...
.
* Swift Creek and Santa Rosa culture pottery post Deptford, northwest Florida, ceremonial decorative pottery, 1000 A.D.
*Glade and Belle Glade culture pottery fiber or sand-tempered crude pottery, south Florida to central Florida, 500 BCE until 1700 A.D., reference four periods I, II, III and IV
*Alachua culture pottery northeast, north central Florida, protohistoric period
* Plaquemine culture pottery, ceramics of the Natchez people
The Natchez (; Natchez pronunciation ) are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area in the Lower Mississippi Valley, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi in the United States. They spoke a language ...
, a historic tribe known also to be one of the last of the Plaquemine culture chiefdoms in southwestern Mississippi
Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...
*Fort Walton culture pottery
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''face ...
distinctively Mississippi culture in Florida panhandle, developed out of the Weedon Island culture 1000 A.D.
File:Poverty Point female figurines HRoe 2009.jpg, Figurines from Poverty Point
File:KolomokiArtifact.JPG, Pot from Kolomoki Mounds
File:Hampson effigypot HRoe 2006.jpg, A human head effigy pot from the Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1600 CE, varying regionally. It was known for building large, ear ...
File:Natchez pottery HRoe 2004.jpg, Natchez pots from the Fatherland site
File:Cherokeestampingpaddles.png, Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, th ...
stamping paddles, used to imprint designs in pottery
Great Basin
Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin
The Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin are Native Americans of the northern Great Basin, Snake River Plain, and upper Colorado River basin. The "Great Basin" is a cultural classification of indigenous peoples of the Americas and a cultural ...
based their pottery on basketry. The Fremont culture
The Fremont culture or Fremont people is a pre-Columbian archaeological culture which received its name from the Fremont River in the U.S. state of Utah, where the culture's sites were discovered by local indigenous peoples like the Navajo and ...
of central Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
(700–1300 CE) developed pottery after adopting agriculture. Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Pa ...
and Washoe people
The Washoe or Wašišiw ("people from here", or transliterated in older literature as ''Wa She Shu'') are a Great Basin tribe of Native Americans, living near Lake Tahoe at the border between California and Nevada. The name "Washoe" or "Washo ...
in the western Great Basin developed plain, utilitarian ceramics separately, which was not burnished but occasionally featured red painted designs. The Owens Valley Brown Ware is an example of Paiute/Washoe ceramics, which was used for cooking, food storage, and water jugs. The jugs often featured clay handles that accommodated carrying straps.
Southwestern cultures (Oasisamerica)
Pueblo cultures
*Ancestral Pueblo
The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, ...
*Mogollon culture
Mogollon culture () is an archaeological culture of Native American peoples from Southern New Mexico and Arizona, Northern Sonora and Chihuahua, and Western Texas. The northern part of this region is Oasisamerica, while the southern span of the Mo ...
, including Mimbres culture, which produced Mimbres pottery
* Santa Clara Pueblo, Taos Pueblo
Taos Pueblo (or Pueblo de Taos) is an ancient pueblo belonging to a Taos-speaking ( Tiwa) Native American tribe of Puebloan people. It lies about north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico. The pueblos are considered to be one of the olde ...
, Hopi
The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...
, San Ildefonso Pueblo, Acoma Pueblo
Acoma Pueblo (, kjq, Áakʼu) is a Native American pueblo approximately west of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States. Four communities make up the village of Acoma Pueblo: Sky City (Old Acoma), Acomita, Anzac, and McCartys. These c ...
and the Zuni. Noted individuals involved in Pueblo pottery include Nampeyo of the Hopi, and Maria and Julian Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo. In the early 1900s, Maria Martinez and her husband Julian rediscovered how to make the traditional Black-on Black pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and po ...
, for which San Ildefonso Pueblo would soon become widely known.
O'odham cultures
*Hohokam
Hohokam () was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BC. Archaeologists disagree about ...
, Tohono O'odham, Akimel O'odham
Athabaskan
Southern Athabaskans include the Apache and Navajo
The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States.
With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...
.
Other
*The Salado culture (1150–15th century CE) of Arizona and New Mexico produced Salado Polychrome.
*Casas Grandes
Casas Grandes (Spanish for ''Great Houses''; also known as Paquimé) is a prehistoric archaeological site in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua. Construction of the site is attributed to the Mogollon culture. Casas Grandes has been design ...
Mesoamerican pottery
* Barra/Mokaya (c. 1900 BCE)
* Tlatilco (c. 1500 BCE)
* Olmec
The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that ...
(c. 1500–400 BCE)
* Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the ...
(c. 300 BCE – 600 CE)
* Zapotec (c. 200–800 CE)
* Mixtec
The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec Cultur ...
(c. 900 CE)
* Purépecha (c. 800–1300 CE)
* Maya ceramics
Maya ceramics are ceramics produced in the Pre-Columbian Maya culture of Mesoamerica. The vessels used different colors, sizes, and had varied purposes. Vessels for the elite could be painted with very detailed scenes, while utilitarian vessels ...
(c. 317–1200 CE)
* Remojadas (c. 750 CE)
* Toltec
The Toltec culture () was a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula, Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoamerican chronology, reaching prominence from 950 to 1150 CE. Th ...
/ Mayan (c. 1200–1500 CE)
* Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
(c. 1168–1519 CE)
* Coclé, Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...
with the following periods: La Mula (c. 150 BCE – 300 CE), Tonosi (c. 300–550 CE), Cubita (c. 550–700 CE), and Gran Cocle (c. 1200–1500 CE).
* Classic Veracruz Culture
Classic Veracruz culture (or Gulf Coast Classic culture) refers to a cultural area in the north and central areas of the present-day Mexican state of Veracruz, a culture that existed from roughly 100 to 1000 CE, or during the Classic era.
...
(c. 100–1000 CE)
* Capacha (c. 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE)
* Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition
The Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition refers to a set of interlocked cultural traits found in the western Mexican states of Jalisco, Nayarit, and, to a lesser extent, Colima to its south, roughly dating to the period between 300 BCE and 400 ...
(c. 300 BCE to 550 CE)
File:Aztec artifacts Mexico Anthropology Museum.jpg, Aztec household pottery
File:Tapadera de incensario teotihuacana (M. América Inv.91-11-45) 01.jpg, Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan (Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is known today as the ...
incense burner
File:Remojadas Chieftain 1 Art Institute.jpg,
File:British Museum Zapotec funerary urn 1.jpg,
File:Acróbata de Tlatilco.JPG, The "Acrobat", Tlatilco.
File:Toltec-style Vessel 1.jpg,
Circum-Caribbean
Antilles
Ceramics first appeared in the Antilles
The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...
as part of the Saladoid
The Saladoid culture is a pre-Columbian indigenous culture of territory in present-day Venezuela and the Caribbean that flourished from 500 BCE to 545 CE. The Saladoid were an Arawak people. Concentrated along the lowlands of the Orinoco River, t ...
culture (named for the Saladero site in the Orinoco
The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wo ...
basin in Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...
. Saladoid people appeared in Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
around 500 BC or a little later, and had reached Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
by about 250 BC. The Cedrosan variety of Saladoid ceramics appeared in Trinidad early on, although ceramics in the Antilles continued to closely resemble forms on the Venezuela coast into the Current Era. Cedrosan Saladoid vessels have a distinctive bell shape with "zone-incised cross-hatching". Many also have complex designs of white on red paint. Later examples were decorated with purple, black, yellow and orange paint. These ceramics are described as "technologically fine, delicate, and graceful."
Other ceramics styles are also known from the Antilles during this time period. Barrancoid trade wares, of a style that had developed in the Orinoco River valley around 1000 BC, have been found in the southernmost Antilles; Trinidad, Tobago
Tobago () is an island and ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It also lies to the southeast of Grenada. The offici ...
, and Saint Vincent. A variant of Saladoid ceramics called Huecan has been found from the north coast of Venezuela to Puerto Rico.
Colombia and Venezuela
Fiber-tempered ceramics associated with shell middens left by hunter-fisher-gatherers of the Early Northwest South American Literature appeared at sites such as Puerto Hormiga, Monsú, Puerto Chacho, and San Jacinto in Colombia by 3100 BCE. Fiber-tempered ceramics at Monsú have been dated to 5940 radiocarbon years before present
Before Present (BP) years, or "years before present", is a time scale used mainly in archaeology, geology and other scientific disciplines to specify when events occurred relative to the origin of practical radiocarbon dating in the 1950s. Becaus ...
. The fiber-tempered pottery at Puerto Hormiga was "crude", formed from a single lump of clay. The fiber-tempered pottery at San Jacinto is described as "well-made". Sand-tempered coiled ceramics have also been found at Puerto Horrible.
Ráquira
Ráquira, is a municipality and town in Boyacá Department, Colombia, part of the subregion of the Ricaurte Province. Ráquira is situated on the Altiplano Cundiboyacense and the urban center at an altitude of . It borders Tinjacá and Sutamarc ...
, a town in the Boyacá Department
Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia".
Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mount ...
, Colombia, is a major ceramics center, where both indigenous techniques and those introduced by Europeans are employed to create primarily utilitarian pots based on Chibcha designs. Ceramic mobiles, nativity scene
In the Christian tradition, a nativity scene (also known as a manger scene, crib, crèche ( or ), or in Italian ''presepio'' or ''presepe'', or Bethlehem) is the special exhibition, particularly during the Christmas season, of art objects rep ...
s, and animal figurines are popular, especially ceramic horses, which have been the symbol of Colombian pottery.
La Chamba in the Tolima Department is known for its blackware. The women potters here also create brown and red ware.
Andean region
In the Andes, ceramics appear during the Initial Period around 1800 BCE. They were needed for boiling agricultural foods Chavín potters on the Peruvian coast create distinctive stirrup spout vessel
A stirrup spout vessel (so called because of its resemblance to a stirrup) is a type of ceramic vessel common among several Pre-Columbian cultures of South America beginning in the early 2nd millennium BCE.
These cultures included the Chavin an ...
s, both incised and highly burnished. These thin-walled effigy pots were fashioned to resemble stylized humans, plants, and animals. Two substyles of Chavín stirrup spout pots include the thicker-walls, glossy-on-matte blackware Cupisnique style and red and black Santa Ana style, both featuring fanged heads. Subsequent Andean cultures revived these ancient ceramics styles and imagery.
Paracas culture, from Peru's desert south coast, created highly detailed ceramics, that were often painted after firing. Paints, made with an acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus n ...
resin binder, were commonly warm yellow, olive green, red-orange, white, and black in color. Paracas artists built upon Chavín styles and introduced the double spout-and-bridge vessel and distinctive masks portraying a supernatural "Oculate Being," that combines human, owl, and double-headed snake forms.
Nasca culture
The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was the archaeological culture that flourished from beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Nazca, Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley.''The Nasca'' by Helaine Silverman and ...
, another south coastal Peruvian culture, returned to the less fragile practice slip-painted their ceramics prior to firing. They created thirteen distinct colors, the larger palette found in Pre-Columbian ceramics in the Americas, which included rare pale purple, maroon, and bluish-grey. Nasca artists created ceremonial and utilitarian bowls and beakers, effigy jars, panpipes, and vessels of new designs, including the stepped-fret. These combined sculptural elements with surface painting, often with curvilinear designs emphasized by bold, black outlining. Painters used revolving turntables to paint all sides of a ceramic piece.
Dominating Peru's north coast from 1–600 CE, the Moche culture excelled at the art of ceramics, which was characterized by symbolic, religious imagery. Moche artists produced some of the more naturalistic, i.e. faithfully representational, artwork of the precolumbian Americas. Moche portrait vessel
Moche portrait vessels are ceramic vessels featuring highly individualized and naturalistic representations of human faces that are unique to the Moche culture of Peru.
These portrait vessels are among the few realistic portrayals of humans fo ...
were so realistic that individuals portrayed at different stages of their life are identifiable. Their paintings on ceramics were narrative and action-packed. Ceramics produced by two-press molds were identical in shape but individualized through unique surface painting. Tens of thousands of Moche ceramics have survived today. The stirrup-spout vessel continued to be the most common form of clay vessel, but Moche artists also created bowls, dippers, jars with long necks, spout-and-handle vessels, and double-chambered vessels that whistled when liquid was poured. Vessels were often effigies portraying elaborate scenes. A fineline painting tradition emerged, which resembles Greek black-figure pottery. A 29,000-square-foot Moche ceramics workshop with numerous kilns was discovered in at the mountain Mayal in the Chicama Valley. The workshop specialized in female figurines.
The Tiwanaku and Wari cultures shared dominance of the Andes, roughly from 500 to 1000 BCE. The Tiwanaku civilizations originated in Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area ...
region of Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, and a staff-bearing deity figured largely in their artwork. Tiwanaku artists continued the tradition of naturalistic, ceramic portrait vessels. The ubiquitous Wari ceramics carried over imagery from their textiles
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not th ...
and metalwork, such as llama
The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era.
Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is so ...
and alpaca
The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can success ...
imagery. Qunchupata in Peru was the epicenter of Wari ceramic production, featuring pit kilns and firing rooms. The stone floors of the firing rooms had rounded depressions for accommodating larger pots. Some Wari palaces had their own attached kilns. Broken potsherds were used as forms for building new pots and for scrapers. Evidence shows ceramics were often ritually destroyed.
Four Andean civilizations flourished in Late Intermediate Period: the Chancay, Chimú, Lambayeque, and Ica. Luxury goods, including elaborate ceramics, were mass-produced in vast quantities for the middle class as well as nobles. Identical ceramics created in molds took sway over individualized works. The Lambayeque culture of north coastal Peru created press-molded reliefs on blackware ceramics. Chimú ceramics, also predominantly blackware, often featured zoomorphic appliqués, such as monkeys or sea birds. They excelled at the doubled-chambered whistling vessels. Chancay ceramics, from the central coast, featured black-on-white designs on unique shapes, such as female effigies or elongated, oval jars. Their sand-tempered ceramics were hastily painted and left unpolished. Ica culture ceramics, from the southern coasts, were the finest quality of their time. They were still handcrafted and had a wide range of polychrome
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.
Ancient Egypt
Colossal statue ...
slips, including black, maroon, orange, purple, red, white, and a glittery deep purple. Designs were abstract and geometric.
The Inca Empire
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...
or Tawantinsuyo
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...
spanned 3500 miles and controlled the world's largest empire by 1500 CE. Artistically, they unified regional styles. Incan ceramics were geometric and understated, while color schemes remained regionally diverse. Mass-produced pottery, conformed to standardized measurements, such as the urpu, a long-necked jar with handles and a pointed bottom used to transport maize
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...
and chicha, maize beer. '' Qirus'' were Incan drinking vessels, made from wood or precious metals, as well as ceramics.
File:Recuay branly1.JPG,
File:Huari pottery 01.png,
File:Anthropomorphic urn Collection H Law 165 n1.jpg, Chancay female effigy bottle, ca. 1100–1400
File:Vasija chimú caballito de totora (M. América 10788) 01.jpg,
Gran Chaco
Guaraní ceramics fall into two major categories: ''na'e'', or dishes, and ''yapepó'', pots, pans, and storage containers. These were both utilitarian and ceremonial. The precontact ceramic tradition of the Gran Chaco was dramatically transformed under European colonization, which created a demand for pitchers, cups, and other introduced pottery forms. Author Josefina Pla observed that women are typically potters, and animals associated with men are not represented in Guaraní pottery.[Escobar, Ticio]
"Cerámica Popular Paraguaya."
''Portal Guarani.'' (retrieved 10 Nov 2011)
Tobatí
Tobatí is a city in Tobatí District in the Cordillera Department, Paraguay. The population of the city is 9,688.Direccioón General de Estadística, Encuentras, y Censos. Censo Nacional de Población y Viviendas 2002.
History
Tobati was fo ...
, a city near Asunción
Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay.
The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay o ...
, Paraguay, is renowned for its ceramics, including tiles and female effigy jars, known as ''Las gorgas.'' A reddish-brown slip, known as ''tapyta'' in Guaraní, is popular, with blackware being less common. A local ceramic artist, Don Zenón Páez (b. 1927) became famous for his ceramic figures of saints.
Itá, Paraguay is another ceramic center, known for its whimsical, ceramic chickens. Rosa Brítez (b. 1941) is a famous ceramic artist from Itá and has been recognized by UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...
.
The Museo del Barro
Museo del Barro is a museum located on the outskirts of Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. It began as a private circulating collection and seven years later acquired a permanent location. It includes three separate divisions, a pottery museum, ...
, "Museum of Clay," in Asunción features pottery from the Gran Chaco, from Pre-Columbian Guaraní to contemporary mestizo
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...
ceramics.
Amazonia
The pottery tradition at Pedra Pintada in Brazil represents the oldest known ceramics in the Americas. Dating back to 5630 BCE, this same tradition continued for 2500 years. Ceramics from the Taperinha site near Santarém, Brazil date back to 5130 BCE and include sand-tempered bowls and cooking vessels resembling gourds. Other ancient Amazonian ceramic traditions, Mina and Uruá-Tucumã featured shell- and sand-tempered pottery, that was occasionally painted red. Around 1000 CE, dramatic new ceramic styles emerged throughout Amazonia. Amazonian ceramics are geometric and linear in decoration. Polychrome pottery typically features red and black on white slips. Additionally ceramics were decorated by sculpting, incision, excision, and grooving. In the upper and central Amazon, the bark of the caraipé
''Licania'' is a genus of over 200 species of trees and shrubs in the family Chrysobalanaceae. Species are found naturally occurring in Neotropical forests from southern Mexico to Brazil and the Lesser Antilles. Due to increased deforesta ...
tree, '' Licania octandra'', provided tempering material.
In regions of terra preta
''Terra preta'' (, locally , literally "black soil" in Portuguese) is a type of very dark, fertile anthropogenic soil ( anthrosol) found in the Amazon Basin. It is also known as "Amazonian dark earth" or "Indian black earth". In Portuguese its ...
, or "black earth", of the Amazon rainforest, an abundance of potsherds were used to develop the soil and build mound
A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher ...
s, which protected buildings and cemeteries from seasonal flooding.["Marajó: Ancient Ceramics from the Mouth of the Amazon."]
(retrieved 9 Nov 2011)
Marajó Island, located at the mouth of the Amazon River was a major ceramic center, where the Marajoara Phase
The Marajoara or Marajó culture was an ancient pre-Columbian era civilization that flourished on Marajó island at the mouth of the Amazon River in northern Brazil. In a survey, Charles C. Mann suggests the culture appeared to flourish between ...
of polychrome ceramics last from around 400 to 1300 CE. In the central Amazon, the Mancapuru Phase, or Incised Rim Tradition, emerged in the 5th century CE. Marajoara ceramics, typically tempered with grog, were complex effigies of humans and animals, such as reptiles and birds.[ The dead were cremated and buried in elaborate ceramic urns. Ceramic artists are active in Marajó, using precontact styles for inspiration.
Women have traditionally been the ceramic artists in the Amazon. Female figures are common in anthropomorphic effigy vessels. Tangas are a unique Amazonian cultural item; they are triangular, concave ceramic pubic coverings held in place by strings, once worn by women of several Amazonian tribes. Today, they are still worn by girls during their puberty rites among Panoan-speaking peoples."Archaeology."]
''Marajó''. (retrieved 9 Nov 2011)
Ceramics forms
* Double spout and bridge vessel
* Olla
*Stirrup spout vessel
A stirrup spout vessel (so called because of its resemblance to a stirrup) is a type of ceramic vessel common among several Pre-Columbian cultures of South America beginning in the early 2nd millennium BCE.
These cultures included the Chavin an ...
*Stirrup jar
A stirrup jar is a type of pot associated with the culture of Mycenaean Greece. They have small squat bodies, a pouring spout, and a second nonfunctioning spout over which the handles connect like a stirrup. During the Late Bronze Age, they were ...
See also
* List of indigenous ceramics artists in the Americas
* List of Native American ceramics artists in the United States
* Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas
*Huaco (pottery)
Huaco or Guaco is the generic name given in Peru mostly to earthen vessels and other finely made pottery artworks by the indigenous peoples of the Americas found in pre-Columbian sites such as burial locations, sanctuaries, temples and other anc ...
* Mata Ortiz pottery
* Mexican ceramics
* Mimbres pottery
* Pit fired pottery
* Painting in the Americas before Colonization
*Pottery of the American Southwest
Art of the American Southwest is the visual arts of the Southwestern United States. This region encompasses Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, and Utah. These arts include architecture, ceramics, drawing, fil ...
*Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...
* Black-on-black ware
* Pueblo pottery
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
* Josephy, Alvin M., Jr
''The Indian Heritage of America.''
Boston: Mariner Books, 2001. .
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Pottery in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian
Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies
The Amerind Foundation
extensive collection of North, Central and South American pottery
National Park Service
National Park Service
Native paths: American Indian art from the collection of Charles and Valerie Diker
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains a great deal of material on ceramics of indigenous peoples of the Americas
Ancient Peruvian ceramics: the Nathan Cummings collection by Alan R. Sawyer
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on ceramics of indigenous peoples of the Americas
The responsive eye : Ralph T. Coe and the collecting of American Indian art
a 2003 exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF)
''Ceramica de la Tierra'' at the American Museum of Ceramic Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceramics Of Indigenous Peoples Of The Americas
Archaeology of the Americas
Indigenous art of the Americas
History of ceramics
Pottery