There are roughly four cultures that were involved in pottery making in the Gila area of the southwest region of New Mexico. Those cultures are Hohokam, Mogollon, Mimbres, and Salado. Mimbres is a branch of Mogollon culture located around the Mimbres and Gila River valleys in southwest New Mexico and it is famous for their unique pottery. Also, pottery found around these areas are influenced by Anasazi Culture. Salado Culture is believed to be a mixture of Hohokam, Mogollon and Anasazi who existed between Arizona and New Mexico.

Hohokam: Hohokam were prehistoric Indians who lived and farmed around the Gila and Salt River or Phoenix Basin area between 300 BC and 1400 AD. They settled in the southern and eastern portions of Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and northern Mexico. During the 15th century, Hohokam culture disintegrated. The Pima and Papago, later residents of those areas, are believed to be direct descendants of the Hohokam people. Among the varieties of Hohokam pottery, Gila Plain seems to be the earliest pottery discovered dating to approximately 150 AD. During the Pioneer Period (300 BC to 500 AD), they developed various types of pottery. During the Colonial Period (500 -800 AD), their pottery technique had evolved and imitated styles from their neighboring peoples. Hohokam made the red on buff pottery, or coiled pottery finished with a paddle and painted with red designs.

Red on Buff Pottery or Gila Butte Red on Buff was made during earlier Colonial Period using the anvil and paddle technique. They spread and thinned clay over an anvil-shaped bowl. Vessels characteristically had flaring rims and were given a slip before being decorated with repeated small motifs and “fringes” of short parallel line. Pottery makers of Hohokam discovered nodules of hematite from the hills. They crushed and ground the nodules into powder and mixed that powder with the clay to make red ocher. They used this red ocher to paint their pots. Hohokam pottery was baked in open wood fires. Pottery vessels had many uses. Pots were used for cooking, serving, and storage. They also made ladles, scoops, figurines, and spindle whorls. After the pottery was broken, pieces of pottery were still used as pottery scrapers, scoops, and ornaments .

Mogollon: Mogollon people were spread throughout the mountains of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexicofrom the heights of south central New Mexico. They were prehistoric farmers and lived in pithouse villages in forests and upland meadows of those mountains. The name Mogollon came from the Mogollon Mountains, the center of this culture. Mogollon culture might have started around 250 BC and ended around 1450 AD.

Mogollon people developed pottery making under the influence of the Hohokam (around 1 AD). Mogollon’s pottery making was also influenced by the Anasazi tradition, the black on white painting. The traits of the Mogollon Pottery in the Early Period are plain brown and red slip. It was thin red and buff types with some red painting on brown backgrounds and a style of some texturing on the surface finish. Some of the pottery traits during Classic Period (1000-1150 AD) are elaborate black-on-white, naturalistic and abstract motifs and homogeneous form with clear painting rules.

Mimbres: Mimbres people flourished in southwestern New Mexico from 1000 to 1130 AD. The center of Mimbres culture was the Mimbres River in southwestern New Mexico. They were known for their ceramics including beautifully painted ceremonial bowls. Classic Mimbres pottery is a black on white pottery with geometric and pictorial design. It rivals other prehistoric pottery in beauty and vitality. There were a variety of motifs used on the pottery. They frequently used triangles and circles. Diamonds, squares, crosses, and spirals were also used with the combination of fine and consistent lines. Those designs were complicated but balanced, and were considered to have some cultural meanings. For example, curvilinear and spiral designs might represent water.

They also used remarkably stylized images of animal and human figures showing a direct relationship between their life and their religion. They used mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, frogs, rabbits, turtles, bats, and birds as motifs. The human figure designs included a variety of activities in everyday life. Other human figure designs included ceremonial and mythical scenes. Mimbres pottery often accompanied the dead and the pots were “killed” with small holes punched through the bottom to symbolically release the spirits of the painted figure

Salado: The Salado area was the first place in which three cultures (Hohokam, Mogollon, and Anasazi) mixed into one culture. Salado pottery is very unique and easily identifiable. It was discovered in many places in southeastern Arizona. Not many Salado cultural characteristics are known except for their pottery. It is believed that Salado pottery reflected their religious beliefs. One of the more famous types of Salado pottery is the Gila (or Salado) Polychrome, a black and white on red pottery made during 1300-1400 AD and included jars and bowls. These polychrome vessels often had “life lines” or farming lines with a line break.

The images are courtesy of Robert Drapkin. Email address is roberto@intnet.net URL http://www.anasazipottery.com/HPottery.html

References:

“Definitions.” Archaeological Research Institute TOC. (June 14-15, 1996)

http://archaeology.la.asu.edu/ARI_Web_2000/vm/southwest/salado/defs.htm November 20, 2000.

“El Centro College’s Mogollon, Hohokam, Cochise Peoples Page.” El Centro College History Page.

http://pw1.netcom.com./~wandaron/mogollon.html #mogollon November 19, 2000.

“Gila Butte Red-on-Buff.” Beloit College Homepage. (1999)

http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/southwest/hohokam/gilabutte/gilabutte.htm November 20, 2000.

“Gila Plain.” Beloit College Homepage.(1999)

http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/southwest/hohokam/gilaplain/gilaplain.htm November 20, 2000.

“Gila River Indian Community.” azcentral.com. (2000)

http://www.arizonacentral.com/travel/destinations/arizona/indian/gila.shtml November 20, 2000.

“Hohokam culture -Britannica.com” Britannica.com. (1900-2000)

http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/8/0,5716,41638+1+40751,00.html November 19, 2000.

“Hohokam Indians of the Tucson Basin. Chapter 2. University of Arizona Press.” The University of Arizona Press. (1979)

http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/online.bks/hohokam/chap2.htm#craft November 20, 2000.

“Hohokam, Mogollon, Anasazi.” Cabrillo College Anthropology Department. (March 11, 1998)

http://www.cabrillo.cc.ca.us/divisions/socsci/anthro/index/southwest.html#intro November 20, 2000.

“Mimbres Abstract Motifs.”Mimbres Index. (1997)

http://www.cumulus.org/Mimbres/mimbres2.html November 19, 2000.

“Preserved by Chance: Hohokam Pottery.”

http://www.anasazipottery.com/HPottery.html November 19, 2000. AnasaziPottery.com: The Ceramic Art of the American South West.

AnasaziPottery.com: The Ceramic Art of the American South West. “Preserved by Chance:Mogollon Pottery”

http://www.anasazipottery.com/MPottery.html November 20, 2000.

“Preserved by Chance:Salado Pottery” AnasaziPottery.com: The Ceramic Art of the American South West.

http://www.anasazipottery.com/SPottery.html November 20, 2000.

“Salado Culture Phases.” Beliot College Homepage. (1999)

http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/southwest/salado/saladophases.htm November 20, 2000.

“Sonorenis is the desert Museum’s Membership Magazine.” Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. (1998)

http://www.desertmuseum.org/week8.html November 20, 2000.

“SW Lecture Notes by James Q. Jacobs.” Photo Galleries by James Q. Jacobs.(1998)

http://www.geocities.com/jqjacobs/southwest/sw_notes.html November 20, 2000.

“The Black Range Lodge, Kingston, New Mexico.”

http://www.zianet.com/blackrange/lodge/lodge2.html November 19, 2000.

“The Hohokam Prehistoric People of the Desert Southwest -DesertUSA.” DESERT USA. (1996-2000)

http://www.desertusa.com/ind1/du_peo_hoh.html November 19, 2000.

“Tracking the Art of Pueblo pottery: Prehistoric Pottery.” The Cleveland Museum of Natural History. (1997)

http://www.cmnh.org/research/cultural/pueblo-pottery/chart.html November 20, 2000.

“Tracking the Art of Pueblo pottery: The Mogollon Tradition.” The Cleveland Museum of Natural History.(1997)

http://www.cmnh.org/research/cultural/pueblo-pottery/mogollon.html November 20, 2000.

Images:

Picture of Gila Polychrome

http://home.elp.rr.com/wesley/images/gilapoly.jpg

Pictures of Hohokam Pottery

http://www.anasazipottery.com/HPottery.html http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/images/diverse/ftlowell/fortjpgs/shards.jpg

http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/images/diverse/ftlowell/fortjpgs/pottery.jpg

http://www.desertmuseum.org/week8.html

Pictures of Mimbres Pottery

http://www.wnmu.edu/paquime/pot.html

Picture of Red on Buff pottery (Hohokam)

http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/southwest/hohokam/gilabutte/gilabutte.htm

http://www.statemuseum.arizona.edu/coll/pots5.html

Picture of Salado Pottery

http://www.anasazipottery.com/SPottery.html

Map - Salado Culture Area

http://www.beloit.edu/~museum/logan/southwest/salado/introduction.htm

Map - Cultures around Gila

http://www.desertusa.com/ind1/du_map1b.jpg

http://www.cmnh.org/research/cultural/pueblo-pottery/mogollon.html

Kozue Takahashi