Ancient Pottery

An Indian woman sat cross-legged on the ground. rolling a fat length of clay between the palms of her hands. Deftly and quickly each roll was piled on top of another, building the series into a straight sided, heavy walled vessel.

With the palm of her hand on the outside and a small. smooth stone on the interior, the potter continued her work. The heavy wall was thinned down, the unattractive straightness was curved into the graceful, flowing lines of an olla side.

Thus the Indian potter of Arizona of many hundreds of years ago molded every vessel she used. Then she decorated many of them. In this way each woman supplied her own household. Each was an artist in her own rights.

The potter's equipment included few other “implements” if they may be called such. There were gourd rinds which were employed in trimming clay from thicker areas of walls. There were water worn pebbles for smoothing all exposed surfaces. There were paint brushes wide and narrow made from the leaf of the yucca which grows so abundantly in many parts of Arizona. Also essential to the potter's work kit were various native vegetal and mineral substances for decorating wares.

Of particular note is the fact that the native potter of the Southwest never used a wheel. Even to this day the potter's wheel has not been adopted by the Indian ceramist of this area.

In a carefully chosen series of pottery, the entire prehistoric and historic story of Arizona's native life is portrayed. Though the remains may be the smallest of fragments. or “sherds,” nonetheless they tell enough to reveal the slow development of culture, the peaks of attainment. and a decline shortly before and into the historic period. In equal measure, this one craft reflects not only the total of culture change, but also many of the small details therein.

Arizona pottery is such an all-expressive craft because it was a general household industry. As stated above. a woman in every family produced the wares necessary for her family. There were no limited specialists in this craft. Rather do we find that pottery is a cross-section of all the peoples, of all their emotions as expressed in things both commonplace and sacred.

As to the origins of Arizona's prehistoric pottery, the archaeologist cannot as yet produce a completely satisfactory answer. The “first wares” of northern Arizona and adjoining areas are by far the crudest. More advanced. yet earlier in time, are the wares of southern Arizona. But what are the origins of the latter?

At the present writing. Mexico would seem to be the logical place of origin, at least of the idea, of ceramics The story of how the idea came to the Southwest, or how the first piece of pottery came, if that is the case, has been revealed in jerky, incomplete installments to date.

The Southwest can well be proud of its heritage in pottery. No greater craftsmanship is found elsewhere in a period comparable to the neolithic of native prehistory. Neither in new stone age Egypt, nor in neolithic Greece. will one find ceramic expressions which exceed in attainment these native accomplishments. Arizona was the center of these activities.

Clay vessel forms first assume the shapes of contem-porary containers. In northern Arizona shallow trays and

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TAD NICHOLLS

bowls of basketry were common. These were copied in clay. Basketry was also expressed in full, rounded bodies. and in small constricted necks. These woven water bottles were very likely the inspiration for some of the early olla forms. All through the centuries of the Christian Era the native Arizona concentrated on bowl and olla forms. showing his imagination in refinement of and variation from the original basic forms.

At an early time also there appeared clay ladles which were undoubtedly copied from natural gourd forms. Other forms were developed. even to such eccentric extremes as modelled duck and bird forms. or pitchers with birds or animals forming the handles. In between would be all the every-day, simpler wares for cooking and serving of meals, the prime purpose of ceramics after all!

A great deal of regional variation is evidenced in Arizona ceramics. In the Pueblo area of the north, cooperative effort became the basis of existence. A conven tional art developed in keeping with this highly unified group life. Here a few basic forms evolved fairly early and prevailed to the end with little drastic change.

Among the Hohokam desert dwellers to the south. such a closely knit organization seems not to have been essential to survival. A greater freedom is seen in art as a whole. A greater range of vessel forms is characteristic. Here are bulbous bodied storage jars, some with graceful lines sweeping from neck to bottom, others with abrupt turns appearing as though the potter had changed her mind in the very middle of the fashioning of the vessel!

In the field of design. other crafts, as basketry and textiles, held a long and a strong dominance over ceramics. This is particularly true of the Anasazi pueblo people of northern Arizona where pottery design continues to this day to reflect textile angularity.

The Hohokams responded to their freer, more loosely organized way of life by breaking with textile traditionif there was any such early in their history. Soon they were happier with curving rather than angular lines, with life forms rather than geometric patterns if one may judge by their results.

Vessel form dictates the place of, and often the very nature of decoration. At first bowls were shallow and the designs confined to interiors. (Obviously these containers, as all others, sat on the floor, so design appeared where it would best be seen.) In time bowl forms deepened and some design crept onto the exterior. Some potIn early days olla forms had less well defined lines; later on these settle down to globular bodies with long or short necks which may be wide or narrow. Here again the dividing line between neck and body dictated design style. If abrupt, decoration separated itself into two parts. namely, bands on the neck, and larger areas of decoration on the body (or the "stomach" as the modern Zuni Indian calls it!). If neck-body lines were easy flowing, decoration often continued from the rim onto the body in sweeping. unbroken style.

Ladles of several types developed. In one, the cup continued into the handle without a break. Decoration also followed a continuous line. The Hohokams stressed this form to the making of a scoop. In the second ladle there is an abrupt break between cup and handle-so too is there in the decoration of each part.

A few pitcher forms developed. Some had short necks and full, round bodies. Some had elongated necks and short, squat bodies. There was somewhat the same relationship between form and design in pitchers as described above for ollas. Plate forms had interior decoration: cups were ornamented on the outside. Vessels modelled as birds, mountain sheep, or other life forms, were painted in such a way as to stress physical features, as tail, wings. or head. Or designs were painted on without regard for the modelled parts.

As to color treatment, there was a definite regional distinction in Arizona. Basically the northern pueblo groups built on black and white, with an early introduction of a red and black combination. This group branched out somewhat into various three color treatments the most popular was black, white and red. Tan and buff to orange shades were effectively used with one or more of the other colors named.

Red and buff were the typical colors of Hohokam pottery, early and late.

As might be expected, the peoples of northern and southern Arizona eventually met, despite the fact that they knew no beasts of burden. Pottery speaks eloquently of this chapter in the history of the prehistoric natives. At first the contacts are few and far between in time. Later on there is a great overlapping of populations.

One can visualize how a single piece of pottery might well be admirably (and profitably) passed from hand to hand, eventually to perish with the fall of a village many miles from the place of its manufacture. Or, perhaps, the traveling salesman of old might well have tucked his wares under his arm, and together they covered many miles the hard way.

Evidences of these early contacts would be seen in such instances as a black and white piece of pottery from northern Arizona found in a village south of Tucson. Or another story-telling piece would be a red on buff bowl excavated near Flagstaff. As the years go by, the "exchange" pieces became so numerous that they indicate a widening of the areas of actual occupation of the two basic cultures. No longer is trade responsible; now the proThe Arizona potter took a number of simple, basic elements and combined them into a multitude of designs. Among these are dots used alone or pendant from lines; lines straight and wavy, thin and thick; and hatching, which is the use of many parallel lines, a decorative device favored by both Hohokams and Anasazi. Squares, triangles, and rectangles, were made in outline or were filled in with solid colors. A popular Anasazi pattern was the step which grew directly out of squares. Curved lines, though not equally popular at all times, took the forms of circles and scrolls. Innumerable combinations of these basic elements give Anasazi design.

In addition to the purely geometric design, life forms occur in pottery painting also. The Anasazi depicted humans and a few animals, particularly snakes, deer, and mountain sheep. The life element was featured by the Hohokam. This desert dweller pictured a great variety of the forms he knew so well, including lizards, snakes. scorpions, ducks, quail and other birds. insects. mountain sheep and other mammals.

In the earliest years of the ceramic industry in the Anasazi area, one sees the hesitant and faltering drawing of the beginner. He also sees that design is copied directly from another source, namely, basketry Auck center, or a circle in the center of a shallow bowl. with two, three, or four simple zigzag lines or stepped patterns radiating to the edge these are often comparable with tray basket designs.

Anasazi area, one sees the hesitant and faltering drawing of the beginner. He also sees that design is copied directly from another source, namely, basketry Auck center, or a circle in the center of a shallow bowl. with two, three, or four simple zigzag lines or stepped patterns radiating to the edge these are often comparable with tray basket designs.

Lines are rather thin in these first schemes, for the pottery copiest tries to remain loyal to the basketry model The basket design is perfect, however, or nearly so, for this art is ages old. Also the very nature of weaving adds to evenness of line. In pottery, however, the hand is not subject to such technical control, and it shakes somewhat in its new freedom The angular basketry pattern became wavy as it was transferred to pottery.

The potter first expressed his freedom, then in curved lines, be they accidental or intentional. Secondly, he broadened lines. At the same time he simplified design as he felt less and less bound to copy specific basket patterns (or as he ran out of basketry themes to copy, for after all basket designs were somewhat limited).

About this time cotton was introduced, offering a new and rich field for the further development of design in weaving. Textile patterns now become far more intricate and involved than ever before. The potter copied once again. Now, however, there is not the slavish copying or carlier years, but, rather, more in the way of a general textile influence on ceramic design. To be sure one occasionally sees direct copying to the very end, but it is the exception and not the rule as it was in earlier years. The ceramic artist expressed his greatest talent during the several centuries from 1100 to 1300, with a few survivals into later years. There was a great deal of regional variation and specialization. Most of this followed the areal development of river valleys of both the Anasazi and the Hohokam.

For example, there developed black and white on red wares in the northern area along the Little Colorado which were distinctive both in colors employed and in design styles. Red orange to deep red formed the ground color on which appeared a clear white and a good deep black. Designs of this area were varied. Some show balanced solid and hatched scrolls, triangles, and stepped figures. Some bowl designs featured single large and sweeping scrolls.

In the Kayenta region, also in northern Arizona, a deep orange or buff ground color was developed. Earlier there were bold and simple patterns in broad red lines outlined in black. Sometimes these evolved into winglike designs. To the south, but still in this same area, a design style featured life forms. Large birds were treated in a conventional or a more or less realistic manner. Rows or groups of human figues appeared. A hand with a finger or two missing might be painted on a bowl interior.

To the south, in the Gila River drainage, there developed a culture distinctive of this area. The Gila polychromes, as they are called, can be divided into two types, an earlier, highly artistic style and a later, degenerate style.

Although the colors were the same here as in most of the Anasazi, namely black. white, and red the tones are so different that one would seldom confuse them with Little Colorado or other pieces. Blood red is the common base color; orange tones are lacking. The early Gila wares had patterns which are beautiful in proportion and arrangement. and of a conservative geometric type. Balanced solid and hatched elements are featured. as are interlocked stepped figures. Rectilinear design dominated, though some use of curved hooks or rows of triangles occurred. The drawing in many of these pieces was excellent.

Then the Gila River dwellers lost their ability to do fine drawing. They became sloppy, careless, worse than “slap happy” in their work. And the would-be artists became lazy, too. Instead of painting an extensive white ground on the red base, then adding a carefully planned and equally carefully drawn pattern in black as had their ancestors, they virtually slapped on an irregular white band just broad enough to accommodate an equally sloppily delineated black pattern. The abandon with which many of these potters decorated their wares removes them entirely from the category of artists. They were indeed a disgrace to their ancestors.

In the Hohokam area a general evolution of design can be briefly presented as follows. In the early years of ceramic decoration, broad lines were featured. These took the simple forms of straight lines alone, chevrons, simple curves not unlike a heavy apostrophe, and a very simple, broad outline of an interlocked scroll filled with hatching. This hatching became a dominant Hohokam feature.

Later on these potters featured small units of design, particularly short parallel lines which often formed fringes, and a few other slightly more involved but still simple patterns. Characteristically these are repeated over the entire vessel surface. As jars and bowls increased greatly in size, design was “stretched” or it became more complicated as accommodation for this size change. For example, lines were broadened; or bands filled with hatching or dimpling took the place of lines. Obviously both of these took up more space than a single line.

Although the Hohokam potter used red only on the buff ground, he spared the paint not at all. Some vessels eventually had more decoration than background. and these so-called negative types became popular. Too. through the centuries there is a growing sense of balance of light and dark areas. This is perhaps reflected in one of the characteristic and essentially Hohokam traits, bulls. eyes.

Bullseyes are solidly filled areas enclosing a small open space in the center of which appears a dot of color, very small bird figures or other life forms, or simple geo metric drawings.

In addition to the geometric figures which developed as time went by, simpler by far than those of the Anasazi, the Hohokam also developed life forms peculiarly their own. Birds as quail, crane, and others; dogs and deer; humans with elaborate headdresses, in long dancing lines, or with a basket on the back and a flute (or cane, perhaps) in hand; lizards galore these comprise part of the long list of life subject matter.

This brief quotation further characterizes Hohokam pottery painting: “Flying birds are evoked with a Z and a horizontal dash, or two down strokes to form a curving V. Two squiggles make a swastika-a dog's ear is cocked with a single cunning blob, his tail set for wagging by a touch of the brush. A bird's leg posed nervously for a forward step, a human arm caught in the rhythm of the dance, a lizard's pointed head all are rendered with one simple stroke. Best of all are the birds: lanky road runners or fat little quail, they have individuality and life. The drawing is too free and joyous to be conventional, too simple to be realistic. Perhaps simplified realism best characterizes it.” Thus we see that there developed two peoples, two distinct cultures in prehistoric Arizona, each characterized in the development of his respective pottery. Ceramics are far earlier in the desert region, possibly appearing before the time of Christ. Not until after 400 did the northern plateau people come to know this expression. Both peoples deserve the title “Artist,” each in his own way. The conventional and highly organized life of the Anasazi led to the development of well-schooled draughts men who ably delineated complicated geometric patterns. The loosely organized Hohokam, on the other hand, were “unschooled artists.”