80.30.596, large ceramic storage vessel (heavily restored)
NAN Site No. 2, southwest New Mexico;
Mogollon culture, A.D. 500–1450)
Mimbres Foundation Collection
Photograph by B. Bernard
Only a few fragments of this pot were recovered; the missing portions were
restored. The original portions show a surface treatment known as
"corrugation," while the replacement portions are made of smoothed and
painted plaster.
This pot measures 66 centimeters (26 inches) across and tall. Through time, small prehistoric pots have survived far more often than large ones, giving museum visitors a false sense of their original size range. As incomplete as it is, this example helps correct such false impressions. Creating a thin-walled vessel of such great size, without the help of a wheel, shows the technical skill of the region's prehistoric potters.
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