Mimbres Pottery

Mimbre pottery can be traced back to the year 1000 to 1250 AD, where they occupied an isolated river and mountains in southern western Mexico. Mimbres belongs to a larger group called Mogollon and they are believed to have originated from Mimbres River where they were in high concentrations found within the river banks.   One thing that characterizes mimbres pottery tradition  are the painted bowls which are decorated with figural as well as geometric designs on white and black grounds. These bowls are used commonly in human burials covering the deceased face.

 In the paper, mimbres pottery images shall be used to figuratively describe various objects, their importance their ages and what the individual images designs represented and their possible meaning.

Pot #

Site

Species

Object

Kill Hole

1414

Eby

Mammal

Bighorn

Present

1429

Eby

Bird

Swallow

Absent

1461

Eby

Insect

Scorpion

Present

1469

Eby

insect

Scorpion

Present

1497

Eby

Combination

Leaf

Absent

1498

Eby

Combination

Leaf

Absent

1529

Eby

Combination

Blade elements

Present

1549

Eby

Insectoid

Land insect indeterminate

Present

1601

Eby

Bird

Swallow

Absent

1607

Eby

Mammal

Artiodactyl, Quadruped indeterminate

Absent

2078

Swarts

Amphibian

Frog

Absent

2512

Swarts

Bird

Swallow

Present

2567

Swarts

Combination

Nested chevron

Present

2096

Swarts

Bird

Hummingbird

Absent

2157

Swarts

Combination

Clover leaf like

Present

2334

Swarts

Mammal

Artiodactyl

Present

2335

Swarts

Reptile

Turtle

Present

2352

Swarts

Bird

Swallow

Present

2357

Swarts

Reptile

Turtle

present

2367

Swarts

Reptile

Turtle

Present

Animal/ Design

Site

Site

Kill Hole

Kill hole

Mammals

Eby

Swarts

present

present

Insects

Eby

Swarts

Present

Absent

Bird

Eby

Swarts

Absent

Present

Reptile

Eby

Swarts

Absent

Present

Combination

Eby

Swarts

Absent

Present

Different bowl paintings were used to identify different burial site for female despite the fact that over time they have been greatly destroyed.

Hypothesis

The presence of a kill hole on the images shows the past period an individual died.

The different images meanings cannot be clearly depicted; however, the presence of the kill hole would be used to tell when the burial took place. Given the custom of the Mimbres, bowls would be placed next to the dead with offerings. Latter the bowls were killed and scattered around the grave.

Overtime the exercise was replaced by breaking a hole into the bowl which was now commonly known s the Kill hole.

Data Recording

In the paper, the data recording method technique used was observation. In recording the data, the presence of the Kill hole in either the Eby or Swart images helped determine the age of the grave. From the portrait, the animal represented or the graphic design, the height and the presence of the kill hole helped determine when an individual was buried.

From the data collected, different animal categorized as either mammal, birds, reptiles or graphic designs, from either Epy or Swart images help to estimate when the burial took place. In mammal’s images, Kill holes were found. This pointed to burial rituals conducted at almost the same time.

In other animal represented in the images, there is a difference where in Epy images; there is presence of the Kill Hole but missing in the Swart images. This would not clearly show the exact time the burial rituals took place.

Conclusion

In the paper, Mimbres pottery has been discussed which help to estimate when the burial ritual took place by the presence of the kill hole. The paper has demonstrated that images showing the kill hole are the most recent while images showing absence of the kill hole were from the past.