Working to authentically recreate the traditional pueblo pottery of the Southern Southwest. The ancient Salado, Mogollon and Hohokam potters left a legacy of beautiful pottery, following in their footsteps is not easy.
Response to “Resolving the Migrant Paradox”
A new article was published recently entitled “Resolving the migrant paradox: Two pathways to coalescence in the late precontact U.S. Southwest”, it seems to have a policical agenda which may be to blame for the problems I found therein. While I do not stand on either side of this polictical argument (nor do I sit […]
Salado Poly 101
30 years of trial and error boiled down to the essential elements Ingredients Local alluvial brown to red firing clay White smectite clay (location of authentic material remains elusive) Red hematite or ochre, finely powdered Organic paint, almost any plant can be used Steps Build vessel from brown clay When leather hard “paint on” white […]
Gila Polychromes – Infographic
Categorizing Salado Polychromes based on Technology The poster based on this infographic can be purchased here.
Salado as a Technology
Salado has been looked at from a lot of different angles, culture, cult, phenomenon… Since pottery is the defining characteristic why not see it as a technology? It was as much about a new technology as anything else and it was market demand and trade routes that propelled it across the region.
White Slip & Its Implications For A Salado Trade Network
The rapid appearance and spread of Salado polychrome ceramics across a broad area of the southern Southwest implies the existence of a vigorous Salado trade network. What Is So Special About Salado White Slip? The white slip used on Salado polychromes is unique but poorly understood. Patricia Crown in her detailed study of Roosevelt Red […]
Thoughts on the Non-Smothering Paradigm
I was excited to read Rod Swenson’s excellent article in the November 2014 issue of Pottery Southwest (http://www.unm.edu/~psw/PDFs/PSW-Volume-30r.pdf). He has definitely thought outside the box to come up with some interesting ideas on firing Anazasi style black on white pottery, the information he presents in his article will cause many replicators to rethink or at […]
Southwest Pottery Renaissance
When the Spanish first entered the Southwest in 1540 they found crumbling ruins of abandoned pueblos. Vast areas of the Southwest had been depopulated by pueblo dwelling peoples about one-hundred years before the Coronado expedition arrived, leaving behind ruins, broken pottery and many unanswered questions. One thing about the abandoned pueblos all over the Southwest […]
Potter’s Secrets and Information Freedom
Traditional southwestern potters are notoriously secretive about sharing information. This pattern may, as far as we know, extend all the way back to the earliest days of ceramics in the Southwest, but I doubt it. When pottery first began appearing in this region, the technology spread rather rapidly, indicating that people were sharing technologies freely […]