Ceramics of the North and South Coasts Essay

One of the most well known figures of the twentieth century pottery world is Maria Martinez. Maria Martinez is a Pueblo Indian part of the San Ildefondo tribe. Pueblo pottery from the American Southwest holds a unique place in ceramic art forms of American art. It is full of age-old tradition and culture handed down form family members and potters of the past. The old Pueblo ways of creating it still hold true today and have not been changed or influenced like so many other styles in modern times.

Pottery is very beneficial and advantageous to archaeologists as it is a very common and widespread product that leads us to have a greater understanding about the everyday life of the area inhabitants. “Pottery is one of the most common artefacts in ancient sites. Once broken, unlike glass and metal, it cannot be recycled. This makes it very useful to archaeologists,” said Pont. Pont made the conclusion that the red slip pottery was used by the Pompeian’s as tableware with the main purpose of serving food and drink given its characteristically glossy surface. By dipping ceramics in liquid clay and later firing it in an oxygenating kiln is how this gloss is created (Kalnins, 2004) (see figure

In 1500 C.E., the Inca Empire was the biggest, wealthiest civilization in Mesoamerica. They ruled over a diverse area of mountains and rainforest, some 2,500 miles in length. It is also one of the more well known civilizations. But did you know that there was a civilization considered a predecessor to the Inca? That civilization is Tiwanaku. The tiwanaku Empire started around 300 BCE and ended in 1000 CE. They were located near the west border of Bolivia. The artifacts that they had were pillars and stone structures where they think they had ceremonies. They also had small temples and altars.

The ancient Olmec civilization is one of the greatest civilizations in Mesoamerica. In the 1900s the Olmec were known as a cultural group of people who shares customs, beliefs, and history in Mesoamerica. The Olmec name means “rubber people”. Olmec name was given to their production of rubber by tapping rubber trees. The Olmec were also used in reference to the artistic style of things they created, such as, art, sculptures, and architectures. One of the most recognized aspect of the Olmec are their colossal heads known as helmet heads. Many characteristics features of the Mesoamerican culture originated in the lowland in the Olmec civilization.

This pottery was from old ruins of a Casas Grandes village. When it was found, it motivated people in the area to make more pottery. Juan Quezada saw same clay shards that people in the same area had seen for centuries. Over many years Juan taught himself how to create pottery with the proper smooth texture, to fire pots individually at low temperatures, and to grind pigments from native minerals for glaze. Mata Ortiz was once a village of lumber and railroad workers.

By 450 AD, versatile mold-made ceramics were beginning to be mass-produced, stamped and distributed out of Teotihuacan workshops, believed to be located north of the Citadel. These “host” figures have been found as far as Guatemala (900 miles away).

Throughout Mesoamerica, we’ve noticed a common thread throughout the various civilizations; which include; divine kingship, common deities, and similar rituals. But two of these civilizations stand apart from the others because of their divergent way of living. The Zapotec civilization was located in Monte Alban celebrated death by generating elaborate burial sites; by creating immense wall motifs and placing countless amounts of detailed censers in the likeness of the departed, for example the Seated Deity with Glyph C Headdress. For the inhabitants of Teotihuacan, unity was a major part of living, which is clearly depicted in their living compounds. In every living compound there was an open courtyard where the multiple families living there would practice rituals and socialize with one another. Every courtyard held a ceramic depiction of a deity who they would worship, for instance, the Censer would be an illustration of this. Both the Seated Deity with Glyph C Headdress and the Censer may appear similar in medium, but are of great contrast in technique and subject matter.

Like most societies there are similarities and differences in religion and art; I will be discussing about three different regions. The three regions are The Eskimos, Olmec, and West Mexico. The Eskimos are well known for commonly using walrus ivory to make things out of mainly because wood is scarce at their location. The Olmec are known for creating mounds out of soil and adorned with colored clays to copy the mountains and volcanoes. Then we know have the West Mexico, which has a rich tradition of all sorts of clay sculptures that are commonly found by tombs.

Ancient Mexico is a grandiose mural which represents the main events of Mexico’s history from the Pre-Columbian Period to Modern Time. The inspiration came to Diego Rivera, from the nationalist movement of his country. Therefore, the mural elements are prototypical of the painting style’s era. Physically the mural is located on the stairway of the Mexican National Palace, in Mexico City; which is the place where the Presidents work. This mural was commissioned at the end of the Mexican Revolution by the federal government. Moreover, this masterpiece depicts its era, considering that this was the dominating genre in the 1920’s, among the Mexican painters.

By A.D. 700, the Anasazi people were categorized as Pueblo (Ferguson, 1996). The Pueblo people built great kivas and used simple black-on-white pottery. By the Pueblo II times, "Great Houses" and more great

Ceramic making is still a popular tradition today in the Americas, especially on Native Indian Reservations, like in Western, North Carolina. The use of ceramics, however, is quite different than the way it was used by the natives during the Middle Woodland Period. Today, pottery is mainly made for decoration or art purposes by modern day Americans, but according to Wallis (2011), about 3,000 years ago the use of pottery became a very common use and practiced tradition among the native people who lived during that time period. The Swift Creek culture and the Cherokee Indians had very similar methods in formulating ceramics. The archaeological findings of these artifacts states that one group had been more advanced designs on their vessels. This reason is most likely because of the materials that one group was able to access in their area that the other group did not have available. One group was also more traditional and spiritual in making their vessels, which caused them to create more complex designs and methods while designing their ceramics (Block 2005). By looking at the similarities of both groups pottery styles, archaeologists were able to determine the minor but very distinctive differences, that one group processed in their art, than the other. By comparing each group’s ceramics by looking at

While certain symbols and figures maintained the significance and meanings despite the passage of time, art styles utilized by the different Mesoamerican civilizations evolved with the passage of time. Having a unified system in which each of the figures possessed the same meanings and importance for each civilization, allowed for the emergence of an art style that could be easily understood and utilized by most. Before the Postclassical International system, there was not a unified art style used through Mesoamerica; this system was an expression of the unification among the dominant religious and political views at the time after the fall of Teotihuacan and before the rise of Tula (Kubler “Ecleticism” 172). Developing a unique, yet universal style was enabled by the similarities in the ideologies of the different Mesoamerican civilizations. Through repeated interaction, the symbols and styles merged. In order to create a system different cultures could understand and identify, the meaning attributed to each of the symbols had to be somewhat similar throughout the different regions. The merger could not have occurred if the symbolized used by the different population did not resemble each other. Due to their similarity, with repeated interaction the

Controversial, questionable, wild, and disputable. These are all words that could be used to describe the 2016 presidential race and more specifically Trumps road to the white house. PBS Frontline made a great documentary about Trump in his journey to becoming the President of the united states. “Trump’s Road to the White House” gives us a clearer insight on the obstacles that Trump overcame and just exactly what his mindset was to win the race and to carry on while running the country.

Moche: An important regional civilization of Peru, governed by warrior-priests; flourished from around 100to800c.e. (pron. MO-che)

The Oxford Dictionary defines the word restorative as having the ability to restore (i.e. repair, renovate or reinstate) health, strength or a feeling of well-being. Also, it defines the word justice as the administration of the law or authority in maintaining just behaviour or treatment. Thus, in lay man’s terms restorative justice would mean having the ability to reinstate a feeling of well-being by the administration of the law.