Messages of Social Identity and Ideology in Mimbres Classic Period Shell Bracelet Bowls

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Shell bracelets are a prevalent form of bodily adornment throughout the North American Southwest, appearing as material culture in the Ancestral Pueblo, Hohokam, Casas Grandes, and Sinagua cultures. Though these ornaments typically appear as jewelry objects, they are also present within the ceramic iconography of the Classic Period (1000 – 1130 CE) Mimbres tradition. Style III Mimbres Black-on-White bowls are known for their communicative symbolism, depicting daily life, ideological narratives, and worldviews. Several Style III bowls have been recovered that feature shell bracelets as independent motifs, separating them from those that display bracelets on the body. The depiction of individual Glycymeris shell bracelets on Style III bowls indicates that they held a unique significance within Mimbres communities, as they are the only ornament form to appear as singular objects on ceramic vessels during this time. Through the analysis of these bracelets and their imagery on Style III ceramics, I argue that shell bracelet bowls functioned as iconographic communicators of Mimbres group identity and ideological beliefs.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53385