PreColumbian Pottery Facts
 The term pre-Columbian is used when talking about the various cultures and civilizations found
throughout North and South America before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. There
were two main regions: Mexico and Middle America, and coastal and highland areas of Peru
and the Andes.
 We study pre-Columbian pottery because it gives strong insight into culture and ways of
civilization and shows simple balance and unity in design. There is also a strong presence of
repeating motifs and actual textures.
Pre-Columbian potters had no wheel knowledge but created by hand works with thinly made
walls and surfaces that were painted with coloured clay slips. Terracotta clays were
burnished with polished wooden cylinders to produce shiny non-glazed wares.
 The Andean cultures that lived from 2nd century B.C. on the slopes of the great Andean mountain
chain (Chile) were among the most notable for their work as potters and weavers. They created
many vessels which were functional and yet pieces of art. Portrait vessels, for example, were
containers created in the likeness of nobility that could contain liquids or grains. The Chimu
potters of Peru produced blackware by firing with low oxygen in kilns. Pottery was typically
made for ritual and burial. Pots were often broken to ‘release’ the spirit when buried with the
dead. They created interesting stirrup-shaped vessels that have handles which bridge both
sides of of pots and are hollow to form a pouring spout. The shapes of these vessels would
include human heads and a variety of animal forms and fish.
 There were three main cultures known for their pottery in the southwest of North America: the
Anasazi, the Hohokan (farmers from Mexico that settled in present day southern Arizona, the
Mogollon (eastern neighbours)
 The Mogollon created plain brownware with red paint designs until 900 AD. They then developed
to black on white work (influenced by the Anasazi). In the 11th century their pottery was highly
developed with intricate geometric designs and pictures. Mimbres designs used feather motifs
and spirals. Scenes of everyday life, such as childbirth and snaring birds, were common pot
decorations and pots were decorative, functional, and symbolic - e.g. some were used to cover
the faces of the dead with ‘kill’ holes.
 The Anasazi lived in the northern dry lands of New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado between 100
and 1300 A.D. Painted pottery was the Anasazi’s most important form of art. Their vessels were
made without using a potter’s wheel, which they had not discovered. They decorated them with
geometric motifs or human figures and stylized animals. The colours were made with minerals,
and chewed-up yucca leaves served as paintbrushes. Pottery was used for everyday purposes,
in ceremonies, and as a means of exchange. Their pottery was the basis for the development of
modern Pueblo pottery designs.
 The Hopi, who are Anasazi descendants, produced painted pottery of a similar type. The Hopi
used certain motifs often in their work and they were known for their clay Cochiti figures
(1800's) - caricatures of visitors to the New World - and their storyteller figures with their open
mouths.
 Santa Clara blackware also developed from Anasazi roots. This black pottery had carved
designs within it and used motifs such as the serpent and the bear paw.