A Long Time Ago...

This came in the other day, and I was very pleased to see it. Pots from the Southwest are some of my favorite things to shoot. This pot came in from a consignor who brought in a BUNCH of fun stuff to shoot.

Mogollon Culture Pottery, Circa 1050 AD

Before this pot came to the shop, I had never heard of the Mogollon people. “Mogollon”, is a bit of a misnomer, nobody knows what they called themselves, but the culture was originally found in the Mogollon mountain region, so… As an aside, the name Mogollon, comes from a former Spanish Governor of the Mexican region, Don Juan Ignacio Flores Mogollon.

This, apparently, was Mogollon’s signature.

There was a piece of paper that came with this pot. It indicated that the pot was from the Casa Grandes region of northern Mexico, made approximately in the year 1050 AD. There is no attribution accompanying the paper, no person’s name is associated with the claim, but the graphics seem very compatible with pots that I have researched that are from known excavations in this region, from that period. I would expect that this pot may have been taken from a Mogollon settlement in the area before strict laws preventing such were in place.

The pot was obviously found in a shattered state, which would not be unexpected. I will say that whoever did the conservation of this piece, did a very good job. The pot is solid, without showing any obvious signs of glue, or other binding agent, poking out of the cracks.

There are suspension holes bored into the pot, just below the rim. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that this pot was probably intended to hold water.

The method that was used to create this pot is known as, “Coil & Scrape”. As you might expect, clay would be rolled into long strings, coiled in a circle, and then scraped smooth with a stone. I would imagine that a form, either a slump, or a hump form, would have been used to start the coil, typically t the bottom of the pot.

The quality of the conservation makes me think that perhaps this pot was not scavenged by some uncultured Yahoo, plundering the ruins of a lost civilization, but a cultured, educated Yahoo, seeking to remediate their plundering by repairing the pot for posterity.

Also, the specific dating of the pot to 1050 AD, makes me think that this pot was the product of a formal excavation (with educated, cultured Yahoos), and that the pot was found with other artefacts of a known age.

Regardless, I was thrilled to shoot this pot. If the age is correct, then this is the oldest man-made thing that I have ever taken a picture of. I do have some cool fossils under my photography belt.

More cool stuff on the way!