Ceramics of the North and South Coasts Essay

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

“Moche portraits from Ancient Peru”, (2004): “Only a few ancient civilizations actually developed true portraiture, showing the anatomical features of a person…” (Donnan, C. 2004. pp. 3) a differences of the Egyptian, they were using symbols to represent their portraits. He also wrote that “Moche portraits are among the most varied, objective, and confident portraits produced by any civilization of the ancient world. They were made a three-dimensional ceramics vessels that could have contained liquid. Most are in the form of human heads” because those were used for carried water from the mountains to the sea. The Moche took an important place in art and technology, because they develop the weaving system and a complex network of irrigation canals to support abundant agriculture to their lands. (Donnan, C. 2004. Pp.4). they also recognized for a large monumental pyramid-shaped architecture called Huacas.

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

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.

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).

In the pre-colombian era, recent excavations in the Soconusco region in that states show that the oldest civilization to have existed in Chiapas would have be that of Mokaya, existing and thriving as early as 1500BCE which makes it one of the oldest in Mesoamerica. During it’s prelatic era, it has already been discovered that Chiapas is not Olmec, but it is known that they had close relations to them. Undergoing extremely well planned importing and exporting, parts of Chiapas can be seen to have Olmec influenced architecture and products that had originally been made in the Olmec civilization, including things such as amber, magnetite, and ilmenite. In the classic period in this region is when the Mayan civilization thrived, giving way for the ruins located in modern day

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott was a ceramist native to Australia. She began her career as a student in art history at the University of Melbourne. Her first interest in ceramics, was the Kent collection of Chinese ceramics in the National Gallery of Victoria. When she finally decided to devote her career to ceramics, was when she met a potter by the name of Ivan McMeekin, who she became the apprentice of in his studio in New South Wales.

My background preparing me for this field experience comes from both academics and previous field experience. In regards to academics, I have done a junior thesis that focuses on the Balearic Islands under the Roman Empire which is the focus of this field school. My thesis examined the ceramic evidence from the city of Sanisera established by the Romans on the Island of Menorca. For the preparation of my junior thesis, I attended a field school that was excavating Sanisera. From this field experience, I was able to get a hands on and in depth education by examining and sorting ceramic sherds found at the site. At the site, I was able to obtain data that I then used for my junior thesis. This experience at the site helped me get a better familiarity with the ceramics I was studying not only for my thesis but for my future goal of working in ceramic analysis.

The site of Cocahuischo is located in the Tierras Blancas river valley near the modern day city of Nasca, Peru. Temporally it is on a border between the Early Intermediate period, or EIP and the Middle Horizon, MH. All ranges of archaeological materials are found at the site, but here the obsidian projectile points will be examined. After excavations, a total of 18 intact obsidian projectile points were recovered. While obsidian projectile points were recovered, evidence for the production of these was very sparse. In total, out of 10 structures excavated, only 6 obsidian flakes and 3 pieces of shatter were recovered. Obsidian would also be considered an exotic material to the residents of Cocahuischo and it most likely comes from the Quispisisa