Season 3 // Episode 3: The Trade of Pottery

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A trade of recipes, techniques, and ideas

Pottery is a particularly iconic item in the Southwest, and evidence of its trade across the Four Corners region can be a little surprising… considering moving something fragile and heavy like ceramics would be difficult without carts, wagons, or draft animals.

“The Southwest was always part of a very large interconnected area - that included Mesoamerica - that shared certain beliefs about the world.”
— Dr. Patricia Crown, Professor of Anthropology, University of New Mexico
a white ancestral ceramic jar painted with gray diagonal lines and geometric shapes sits on a museum exhibit sandbag next to a photography color checker

BLACK ON WHITE JAR, Mesa verde national park // NPS PHOTO

In this episode of Season 3, we hear from Timothy Wilcox (Diné/Ohkay Owingeh), Field Archaeologist and Kari Schleher, Laboratory Manager - colleagues at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center located just north of Mesa Verde National Park. Tim and Kari discuss how we can tell that pottery was being traded across the landscape, why it may have been traded, and what that trade could mean for the Ancestral Pueblo people.

We also hear again from Bridget Ambler, Supervisory Curator for Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum about the trade relationships across what is currently known as Montezuma Valley.

Additional Resources

See Ancient, Historic, and Modern Pottery on Exhibit

a large white ceramic jar covered with black geometric shapes and lines, with red diamonds around the middle, a solid red band around the base, and red interior, all against a black backdrop

PHOTO // THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN

The National Museum of the American Indian Washington, D.C.

American Museum of Natural History New York City, New York

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Santa Fe, New Mexico

San Ildefonso Pottery: 1600 - 1930; August 11, 2019 through August 31, 2020

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

the interior and profile angles of a large white ceramic bowl, painted with black concentric bands and geometric patterns, all against a black background

Pueblo bonito doorways // nps photo

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, located just northwest of Mesa Verde National Park, is dedicated to understanding, teaching, and preserving the history of the ancestral Pueblo people who inhabited the canyons and mesas of the Mesa Verde region more than 700 years ago.

The mission of the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center is to empower present and future generations by making the human past accessible and relevant through archaeological research, experiential education, and American Indian knowledge.

Click here to view the Crow Canyon Artifact Gallery for examples of pottery found in the Mesa Verde region, or click here to follow Crow Canyon on Facebook.