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MIMBRES CULTURE

The peaceful village dwellers who settled along the banks of the Mimbres River in Southern New Mexico created some of the most enchanting painted pottery designs during their brief existence.

Using modern scientific dating methods, the culture that settled along the 46 mile banks of the Mimbres River in southern New Mexico apparently began about 200 CE. And then the entire culture disappeared without a trace around 1150 CE.

Archaeologists generally group the Mimbres Culture, the Anasazi to the north, and the Hohokam to the west into the Mogollon Cultures. All three existed in this general area of New Mexico during the same period.

The Apache are generally considered decendants of the Anasazi, and the Pueblo as decendants of the Hohokam. But there is no evidence of anything like Mimbres pottery in any subsequent cultures and this makes this pottery, and the culture that produced it, even more unique.

The 5,000 ft elevation of the Southwest high desert can produce blazing heat in the summer and snow in the winter.

It flowed southeast into the Rio Grande River which flows 1,800 miles from Colorado, through New Mexico and Texas and into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mimbres River drained a high and very fertile river valley surrounded by mountains.

It is in this this fertile and relatively protected valley that nomadic tribes settled and prospered.

And since little else remains, it is primarily through their pottery we are able to learn anything about the Mimbres people.

Time Line for the Mimbres Culture

Japanese invent paper - 100 Jesus crucified - 134 Last Gladiators battle in Rome - 404

200 CE First Period

Buddhism reaches Japan - 538 King Arthur killed - 587

550 CE Second Period

Chinese invent porcelain - 650 Battle of Karbala in Iraq - 680 First Norse explorers to NA - 1000

William The Conqueror 1066 to 1087

900 CE 1150 CE

Third Period

FIRST PERIOD 200 to 550 CE During this time, the first groups began to establish permanent settlements along the Mimbres River. Due to...

Despite the 5,000 ft elevation this river valley was somewhat temperate. Hunting in the surrounding mountains was plentiful. There were fish in the river, the soils were fertile and firewood was plentiful. And, of course, other natural materials like clay were available.

First Period Pit House 200 to 550 CE Population – 4-5 villages with 500 or less inhabitants total.

Like in many cultures, the first pottery was simply made by hand, without any tools using the simple ‘pinch pot’ method.

And like most other cultures, the Mimbres peoples made larger pots by the using the ‘coil method’.

FIRST PERIOD MIMBRES POTTERY

Simple coil shapes The red-brown natural clay appearance is produced by the rubbing of iron oxide onto the surface of pots before or after firing in open fire-pits. And some “effigy jars.”

The process of making pots would be the same throughout all of the periods, and would be similar to that done all-round the world.

Pots would be first formed by hand.

They would be stacked into an open-pit fire.

Fuel could be wood, or in this case cattle or buffalo dung.

Fuel would be added and when the fire died, the pots appear.

SECOND PERIOD 550 to 900 CE Increased sophistication in their pottery including the making and use of their distinctive bowl shapes that, for archaeologists in our era, define their civilization. The second period period saw increased agriculture in the valley. Less reliance on hunting of larger game animals in the mountains. Larger villages and an increased population to perhaps 1,000-1,500 people.

Above ground homes More & larger villages

Clustered housing – up to 15 units.

Characteristics of Second Period Mimbres Pottery.

Coil construction While other shapes were made, more bowls have been recovered. One style of brushwork included radial geometric designs. Discovery of a White Slip for decoration.

Characteristics of Second Period Mimbres Pottery. Red-White Slip decoration.

Quadrant patterns were very common and may have had religious meanings. Quadrant - North – East – South - West

Characteristics of Second Period Mimbres Pottery. Another common style had geometric patterns extending across the bowl. Important feature in this bowl is the hole in the center.

THIRD PERIOD 900 to 1150 CE During this period Mimbres Pottery reached its highest forms of expression – including more sophisticated geometric designs and especially the use of images of animals and of man as the hunter. Settlements grew in size and number to 16 villages with an estimated population of about 2,500 people living along the 46 mile stretch of the Mimbres River. They were largely self-sufficient and virtually no evidence of trade exists. No evidence of the their distinctive pottery is found among the ruins of either the Anasazi or the Hohokam cultures.

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery. More sophisticated geometric designs. Quadrant with alternating designs. Use of border at the rim. Might these figures represent something ?

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery. MOST IMPORTANT

Black and White decoration. Circular or spiral patterns Rim border. Spirit hole.

J.J. Brody, a Professor of Art History at the University of New Mexico for over 30 years, and the leading authority on Mimbres pottery says: “The Mimbres often placed a pot over the head of the dead with a hole punched in the bottom; a “killed“ pot. In death one looks up through the hole in the killed pot while most of one’s life is spent looking down toward the ground. A duality is perhaps implied by this.”

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery. Depiction of both man and animal. What did the snake represent in many Indian cultures?

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery. Bird ? Or insect?

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery. The designs frequently offer humorous representations of animals and man. Contemporary Pueblo art frequently has a humorous nature.

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery.

This bowl could be viewed from two sides. Perhaps meant as a greeting or a welcome ? Or just as a bowl for serving chicken?

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery. Man as the hunter. Human fiqures were often shown as , or part animal – part man.

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery. Extremely finely ruled lines. Unusual design using three repeated patterns.

Characteristics of Third Period Mimbres Pottery.

Using images of birds was a common feature.

Over 7,000 pieces of Mimbres pottery have been saved. Nearly 80% are these distinctive flat bowl shapes. And, of course, I have some favorites

Discovery of the Mimbres Culture Only in the late 1870’s did word of an ancient settlement begin to reach the museums and universities of the east coast of the U.S. An amateur archaeologist names E.D. Osborn had been searching through the Mimbres River area for years and eventually he discovered some shards and brought them back east to J. Walter Fewkes of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. in 1910.

Fewkes is best known for his archaological discoveries on the prehistoric Southwest, Mexico, and West Indies, while working with the Smithsonian's Bureau of American Ethnology (1895-1928).

Fewkes was intrigued by what he saw, and thru the Smithsonian he funded Cornelius and Harriet Cosgrove who explored and dug in the Mimbres River valley on 7 expeditions through the mid-late 1920’s. Exploration ended because:

1. They thought they’d found the entire culture at Swart’s Ruin. 2. The Great Depression.

Unfortunately, while financing for expeditions wasn’t available during the depression, there were many people out of work and all were looking for ways to make money or to survive. During the 1930s entire villages were destroyed by looters looking for highly saleable artifacts.

As late as 1960 looters with bulldozers continued to search and destroy important sites, until legislation was passed and severe penalties enforced to prohibit these thefts.

Causes for the disappearance of the Mimbres Culture Their over-hunting of game in the area.

Depletion of the soils through extensive agriculture. Consumption of all of the locally available firewood. The population grew to 15 times what it was during the 1st Period. A 20-30 year-long widely documented period of drought throughout the Southwest just after 1100 CE. Lack of trade and contact with other cultures of the same general period.

“Mimbres paintings can teach us much about greed, but above all, they teach us about art and the power that creative expression have to link together the past, present, and future.” J.J. Brody