Depictions of Human Facial Decoration on Mimbres Pottery as an Indication of Social Affiliation

Summary

The culture of the Mimbres Mogollon region is known for its intricate, black-on-white, geometric and figurative pottery designs. Analysis of ceramic iconography found on Mimbres pottery allows archaeologists to hypothesize about Mimbres life and social structure. Using provenienced, figurative vessel data from the Mimbres Pottery Images Digital Database (MimPIDD), this paper investigates the possible relationship between human facial decoration and the inter- and intra-site provenience of Mimbres pottery. This analysis considers attributes such as facial decoration (design, color, and size), sex, depictions of activities, and design layout of human figures, as well as the spatial provenience and context of vessels found throughout the Mimbres Mogollon region. The results of this analysis show whether or not there is a correlation between human facial decoration and the provenience of Mimbres black-on-white pottery.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage