Prehistoric Indians of the SouthwestWormington, H. M. (Hannah Marie)
History
Prehistoric Indians of the Southwest
Wormington, H. M. (Hannah Marie)
Indians of North America -- Southwest, New -- Antiquities; Southwest, New -- Antiquities
In all sections there was a greater variety of forms and designs than in
the preceding period. Designs were no longer confined to the interiors
of bowls and ladles but were placed on all kinds of vessels. Basketry
patterns were still used, but others were taken from textiles, and still
others seem to have been developed only for the medium of pottery.
Designs show a certain lack of skill in execution, but they were
elaborate and boldly conceived. There is every evidence of people still
experimenting with a new medium. The principal elements were parallel
lines, sometimes straight and in other cases stepped or wavy; zig-zags,
triangles, checkerboards, and interlocking frets. Both curvilinear and
rectilinear designs were used. In the latter part of the period parallel
lines were scarce, and elements became broader and heavier.
[Illustration: Fig. 23—Black-on-white pottery. Developmental-Pueblo
period.]
[Illustration: Fig. 24—Neck-banded vessel. Developmental-Pueblo
Period. (Courtesy National Park Service.)]
Techniques of production and finishing differed from those of
Modified-Basketmaker times. The practice of using slips developed. A
slip is a coating of very fine, almost liquid, clay which is smeared on
a finished vessel before firing to give a smooth even finish. In the
second part of the period, spiral coiling began. In the earlier forms,
short clay fillets, which made only one turn around the vessel, were
used. With the spiral technique, longer rolls of clay were used and each
made several circuits around the vessel. During the first half of the
period, vessels were either entirely smoothed or, in the case of many
culinary vessels, the bottom was smoothed while the neck portion was
characterized by flat, relatively broad, concentric clay bands. These
neck-banded jars are quite characteristic of early Developmental Pueblo.
During the second part of the period corrugated ware appeared. This is
pottery in which the alternate ridges and depressions resulting from a
coiling and pinching technique of manufacture have not been obliterated.
Sometimes the corrugations were embellished by indentations produced by
pinching the clay between the fingers or by incising them with the
fingernail or some small implement. In this way simple patterns were
formed. The use of this type of pottery for cooking may stem from the
fact that this is the only type of decoration which would not soon be
obliterated by soot. Objects made of clay also included tubular pipes or
cloud-blowers. Stone and wood were also sometimes used in making these
objects.
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