Subjective Color in Mimbres Black-on-white Pottery

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Coloring the World: People and Colors in Southwestern Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Subjective color is a well-known phenomenon in the psychology of perception. It results when certain patterns of dark and light are spun at a particular speed, which the viewer perceives as solid colors or rainbow effects. Experiments indicate that this phenomenon occurs when Mimbres Black-on-white vessels of certain designs are spun. I propose that the subjective-color phenomenon was used by shamans to induce trance states or related purposes. It is notable that the rainbow effects of certain designs and related color phenomena may represent water, the effect of light sparkling on water, and similar symbolic effects. It may be just one of many symbols in the ancient Southwestern religious ideologies, which appear to have been focused on bringing rain and agricultural fertility.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Coloring the World: People and Colors in Southwestern Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23799