The Production and Distribution of Mimbres Pottery
The Production and Distribution of Mimbres Pottery
The famous and highly sought-after Mimbres painted pottery in southwestern New Mexico continues to fascinate people today as much as it did when it first became known more than a century ago. Despite several publications promoting Mimbres archaeology and innumerable analyses of style, dating, iconography, meaning, identity, use wear, and trade and travel implications, however, there had been little interest in the actual production of Mimbres pottery. This changed with the professional investigations of the 1970s when petrographic analysis began, and then again, in the late 1980s and 1990s, when Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) was first employed in the study of Mimbres pottery production and distribution.
The Production and Distribution of Mimbres Pottery assesses a much-expanded INAA data set and presents a new and more-informed interpretation of ceramic production and distribution in the Mimbres region. The results should guide future research in the region and will also serve as an example of how INAA data can help students and scholars understand many other interrelated aspects of prehistoric Mimbres society in addition to Mimbres pottery production.
Darrell Creel has assembled one of the largest INAA data sets in North American archaeology, for one of the most famous of ancient Native American potteries: Mimbres. The insights from his remarkable study will become fundamental to our understanding of Mimbres history, society, and art.'--Stephen H. Lekson, author of A History of the Ancient Southwest
This book will be of great interest to researchers focused on Mimbres pottery as well as archaeologists interested in ceramic production, village specialization, and exchange broadly.'--Matthew A. Peeples, author of Connected Communities: Networks, Identity, and Social Change in the Ancient Cibola World
Darrell G. Creel is an associate professor emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin and the former director of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory. Widely published, his research has centered on the Mimbres area of southwest New Mexico, with extensive excavation at the Old Town ruin on the lower Mimbres River.
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Chapter One. Introduction
Chapter Two. Data and Methods of Analysis
Chapter Three. Ceramic Type Assessments
Chapter Four. Intrasite Variability
Chapter Five. Imagery, Design, and Individual Artists
Chapter Six. Production and Distribution of Mimbres B/W Style III
Chapter Seven. Summary and Overview
Appendix One. Compositional Group Descriptions
Appendix Two. Illustrated Pottery Vessels
References Cited
Index
