Everyday People, Everyday Pots

Please come and see the current exhibit in the lobby level of Gladfelter Hall in the cases outside of the Anthropology Lab!

Everyday People, Everyday Pots was curated by the Lab’s Director, Muriel Kirkpatrick and features pottery from two of the Lab’s collections.

I spoke with Muriel about the Metepec collection.  Metepec is a municipality in Mexico famous for its pottery tradition.

Muriel, tell me about your time in Mexico.

It was the winter of 1970 and I went to the field as part of my Master’s Thesis.  Another student, David Strug, was doing an ethnology of Metepec potters and putting together a collection that would eventually come to Temple.  We sort of crossed paths as he wound up leaving during my field work.  My goal was to go the homes of the potters and see the pottery in their houses – what they themselves used.

A potter stands with his wares (an example of Muriel’s Metepec field photography). She remembers that the potters lived mostly on the outskirts of the village and worked in the yards in front of their houses.

My research was informed by a Maya typology developed by James Gifford.  [The Temple professor who edited Ceramica]  Although ultimately, I wanted to know the potters’ own classification of their works in order to get an emic view of this aspect of their culture.

TU1969-1-67, cazuela de ocho. An example of domestic ware used in Metepec homes.

I spoke very little Spanish but as an artist – the pottery becomes a means of communication.  And I made drawings to record their technique.

A group of Muriel’s drawings show the potter at work.  The bottom illustration shows the making of preforms, an initial step in this molded pottery tradition.

A female potter sits with pottery equipage.  The molds, shown on the far left and far right, were used to press the preforms into a vessel.  The temper used in the clay for these wares contained cattails which contributed to it’s unique consistency.

This pitcher was made to serve pulque, an alcoholic beverage with ancient origins that is made from the sap of the agave plant. It was made for sale.

Exposition Ephemera: Models from South India

Painting Story of the Floating Desert: Contemporary Indian Miniatures from Jhalavad, India is currently on exhibit at CHAT (The Center for Humanities located on the 10th Floor of Gladfelter Hall).  Also on display as a complement to this show are a number of models from south India belonging to the Anthropology Lab.

These pieces are from the Commercial Museum collection and may have been exhibited in the 1900 World’s Fair, the Exposition Universelle, in Paris, France.  Both England and France had pavilions at the fair representing their colonies in India.

The label on the bottom of this figure indicates that it was made in French India for the Exposition Permanente de Paris in 1866.

Please visit CHAT to see the entire show!

Other entries on the Commercial Museum collection in the Lab:

Philadelphia Commercial Museum

Eitokusai’s dolls in Japan

Photographic detail

Woven

Here are two more examples of ethnographic textiles from the Anthroplogy Lab.

TU1966.1-123, chinaxeti (belt)

This Kaxinawá hipband was collected by Kenneth Kensinger in the 1960s.  The Kaxinawá live in the Amazon jungle of eastern Peru.  This piece was woven by the wife of a chief and is made of natural, raw, white cotton.  The design, called meander, is a repeated geometric pattern that was decided upon in advance by the weaver. A wrapping technique produced the raised design elements which add to the overall texture of the piece.

detail of weave

TU1966.1-36, chinaxeti xetaya (belt, with teeth), decorated with 120 monkey teeth

The hipband shown above is also cotton.  The band woven pattern produces a striped effect along which the weaver attached monkey teeth.  The teeth were drilled and attached with the same material.  This piece, also from the Kensinger collection, was made by a man named Didu and his wife.  The teeth are from the capuchin monkey and are a symbol of hunting skills.

detail of band weaving

Special thanks again to Heather Veneziano who supplied much of this information. 

Related entries:

Basketry

Working with animal hair

Monkey teeth necklace

The Fibers Studio at Temple

“Orange peel” flakes and a look at Colha, Belize

The Maya site of Colha, located in Northern Belize, is known for its lithic workshops.  At its height, stone tools made at the site were traded with communities as far as 160 km (100 miles) away.  The site is located geographically along a large seam of flint-like chert.  The making of stone tools emerged initially as a cottage industry during the Middle Preclassic (1000-400 BC).

By the Late Preclassic (400 BC-AD 250), previously undeveloped swamps and hillsides were transformed into farmland yielding several crops a year.  Population in Colha grew rapidly to accomodate the now large-scale lithic production carried out in workshops near the center of the site.  Formal plazas, temples and a ball court at the site also date to the Late Preclassic.

The ruins at Colha, Belize

Plan of the monumental center at Colha, Belize.  The ball court is in red.  (Corozal Project, 1973)

The Colha workshops produced a limited range of tools, which were likely used primarily for the clearing and working of land.  The three utilitarian tools produced included large oval bifaces, tranchet bit implements, and long parallel-sided bifaces.  A smaller number of microblades and biface eccentrics, which appear to have been used as prestige items by elites, were also made at Colha.

From “Ancient Chert Workshops in Northern Belize, Central America” by Harry J. Shafer and Thomas R. Hester. In American Antiquity, vol. 48, no. 3 (July, 1983), p. 528.

The technique of biface thinining used in making the tranchet adze, or axe, was unique to Colha and required a skilled hand.  Blanks or cores produced in the chert quarries were transported to the workshops where craftsmen further shaped each tool.  Interestingly, the bit end of each adze was formed by removing a large rounded “orange peel” flake through hard-hammered percussion.  The orange peel flake itself is very distinctive in its smooth curved appearance.

TU1977.3.3 (8.5 cm), TU1977.3.4 (11 cm), TU1977.3.2 (11 cm)

Another view of orange peel flakes from Colha, Belize.

The Temple Anthropology Lab accessioned a surface collection of 64 pieces of lithic material from the workshop site of Colha, Belize in 1977.  The artifacts were collected during a 1976 lithic conference at the site by Juliette Cartwright, a former Temple undergraduate student.  Permission was granted for the donation by the Archaeological Commissioner of Belize for the purpose of adding to the lab’s comparative collection and increasing accessibility to those who wished to study them.

Sources:

Hammond, Norman. “Preclassic Maya Civilization”.  In New Theories on Ancient Maya, edited by Elin C. Danien and Robert J. Sharer (Philadelphia: The University Museum, 1992)

Shafer, Harry J. and Thomas R. Hester. “Ancient Maya Chert Workshops in Northern Belize, Central America”. In American Antiquity, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Jul., 1983), pp. 519-543

Sharer, Robert J. and Loa P. Traxer. The Ancient Maya, 6th Edition (Stanford University Press, 2006)

Projectile points

In 1969, a collection of projectile points from Virginia was given to the Anthropology Lab by Clifford Evans of the Smithsonian.  The collection includes 117 points catalogued according to the 1955 artifact typology devised by C.G. Holland, who analyzed the lithic materials from Evans’ multi-sited project.  Holland originally created a Type A through O typology, which he later updated in a broader 1970 survey of the archaeology of southwest Virginia.  Here are a few Archaic and Woodland Period points selected from this collection.  

Top row: TU1969.3.1, Type A, Small Triangular (Clarksville Small Triangular), Middle row: TU1969.3.2, Type B, Medium Triangular (Madison Point), Bottom row: TU1969.3.3, Type C, Large Triangular (Levanna Point).

Plate 17, An Archeological Survey of Southwest Virginia, C.G. Holland. Note the first three rows are Clarksville, Madison and Levanna Points respectively.

The transition from the Archaic Period to Woodland Period varies regionally.  In Virginia, the Archaic Period dates from approximately 8000 BCE  to 1200 BCE and the Woodland Period begins around 1200 BCE and ends with the onset of European contact.  The triangular points from this area appear during the Woodland Period with the larger points being older and points becoming smaller with the progression time.  The Levanna Points (bottom row) date to the Middle Woodland with a tentative start date of 700 CE.  They were later supplanted by the Madison Point (middle row) around 1350 CE.  The smallest, Clarksville Points, are from the very Late Woodland into the Historic Period. 

Top and middle rows: TU1969.3.7, Type G, Notched Base (Bifurcate Based), Bottom row: TU1969.3.9, Type I, Notched Stemmed (Halifaxed Sidenotched).

The  points shown above are possibly earlier, with the Halifaxed Sidenotched points dating to approximately 3500 BCE.  The Bifurcate Based points are given this general classification as a more precise date is not known, sometimes due to their incomplete appearance.

In his earlier article in 1955, Holland notes that “stratigraphic evidence of change was meager” and that he often had to rely upon “thin deposits and surface collections”.  However, by 1970, knowledge of Virginia prehistory was expanding and through his extensive survey, the work of other colleagues, as well as access to the collections of local collectors, Holland was able to incorporate his prior typology with their more updated and preferred names.  And despite the limitations he faced in the 1950s, Holland’s early report did include an in-depth flake analysis which examined the seemingly antithetical relationship between the appearance of white quartz and chert in the region.  White and clear quartz and quartzite were often locally abundant in Virginia.  Inhabitants often favored white quartz, in particular, in lithic production where it was plentiful.  However chert was favored where white quartz was not found.  As can be seen in the photos, the colorful and often crystalline qualities of these small artifacts make them a visual treasure while their archaeological and cultural origins provide a fascinating resource students and scholars.

Sources:

Holland, C.G. 1955 An Analysis of Projectile Points and Large Blades, Appendix 2 in A Ceramic Study of Virginia Archaeology by Clifford Evans.  The Smithsonian Institution of Washington, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin, 160, pp. 165-191.

Holland, C.G. 1970 An Archeological Survey of Southwest Virginia, Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, Number 12.

Cypress Street

CY.P.8.98, plate, transfer printed scene ”Picturesque Views of the Fishkill, Hudson River” from an etching published in 1823 by W.G. Wall in the Hudson River Portfolio.

CY.P.4, cup fragment, mid-nineteenth century, mocha ware.  Mocha ware, or dipped ware, is a machine turned slip banded pattern.  Here, the “worming” effect is the result of a multi-chambered slip pot.

From excavations at 310 Cypress Street.

Shell money

TU2007.6-36, token, 14.5″L, 5.5″W, Bush Valley, Denise O’ Brien Collection.  The paper tag reads “Belium Valley NNG” and “Welimo luw from Dolimo”.

The token, shown above, is a form of currency made in New Guinea.  A closer examination reveals its intricate construction.  Once again, thanks to Heather – a more careful description can be recorded.

The piece is made up of many wrapped strips.  Each strip is made up of two thin pieces of wood which are wrapped with plant fibers.  Tiny cowry shells are attached to the front of the strips via a plant fiber thread in a running stitch.

The back of the artifact. Note the separate wrapped pairs of slim wooden strips which lend a braided effect.  Twine connects the strips in an irregular pattern.

In a running stitch, the stitch and the length between the stitches is equal.

Microscopic detail of the plant based fibers used in wrapping, stitching and twining the piece.

 

Horn spoon

TU66.3-11, carved horn spoon, Northwest Coast, North America, 15″ long, University of Pennsylvania Collection.  The horn was shaped and thinned using hot water and was likely made for the tourist trade in the early 20th century.

Illustration by Muriel Kirkpatrick.

Under the microscope

Before recently leaving Temple, Heather Veneziano visited Muriel and me in the Lab to look at a few artifacts made of fiber under a USB 200x microscope.

Heather spent nearly 5 years as the Technical Assistant in the Tyler Fiber Lab where her work was invaluable.  She has since moved to New Orleans where she is helping build sustainable housing.  She is also an artist specializing in fibers, with a background both in crafts and in fine arts.   Heather received a MFA in Tapestry from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.  She works with historical textiles and is presenting a paper with Temple graduate student Mara Katkins at a symposium of the Textile Society of America this week in Washington, DC.  (Congratulations Heather and Mara!)

With Heather’s expertise we were able to learn more about two bags from the Friedlaender Collection.  Both bags are similar in size, were collected in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea, and incorporate animal hair into their textile design.  Heather examined and explained, in fascinating detail, how the animal hair and other commercially made materials were used.

JF2-15, Bilum with cuscus hair, 17″x22″, Eastern Highlands, New Guinea, 1998, Friedlaender Collection.

Microscopic detail of the cuscus fur wrapped around black commercial strand.

In the first bag (bilum), shown above, the cuscus hair is woven on the inside in order to produce the “tufted” effect on the outside.  The inside of the shoulder strap, however, has a flattened surface where the hair was spun around black commercial fiber.  Heather noted that this was a deliberate design choice, likely done because the inside strap is visible and the maker wanted to conceal the fiber underneath.  In the picture below, the spun hair covers the fibers except in an area that has been worn with use.

Microscopic detail of spun cuscus hair wrapping black commercial fiber; note wear on surface.

The second bilum, below, features a striped chevron design in which the maker alternated colors, including gray bands of spun cuscus hair (again wrapped around a commercial strand).  Both bags are netted, not woven.  This provides strength and flexibility and allows the bilum to expand for everyday use.

JF2-16, Bilum with cuscus hair band, polychrome, 20″x20″, Eastern Highlands, New Guinea, 1998, Friedlaender Collection.

A closer look at the workmanship shows the hair wrapped over the purple strands.

Microscopic detail of the spun cuscus hair wrapping commercial material. The even color and composition of the purple strands indicate that they are machine made and chemically dyed.

Tactile

Heather Veneziano, of the Fibers Department at Temple’s Tyler School of Art, recently visited the Anthropology Lab with her class, Intro to Fibers (see her blog post here).

During the class period we looked at many fiber-based artifacts in the collection and Heather very kindly pointed out various weaving techniques.  Here are a few of the highlights of traditional weaving from the Anthropology Lab’s ethnographic collections.

PLAIN WEAVE:

In plain weave, the warp and weft are aligned to form a basic criss-cross pattern.

TU2007.4-27, basket, woven, purse-shaped with handles, ties and secured flap lid, 5″ high, Chaco, Argentina, E. S. Miller Collection.

COILED BASKETRY:

In coiled basketry, bundles of plant fibers are wrapped around in layers and held in place with interlocking stitches.

TU2007.4-26, basket, woven with attached lid, 4.5″ high, Chaco, Argentina, E. S. Miller Collection.

PLAITING:

Plaiting is an over-under pattern that can be done on the diagonal.  The plaiting below gives strength and flexibility to the body of the costume and is decorated with painted stripes.

JH-06, Dancing Pig Costume, Sepik River, New Guinea, 52″ long, Friedlaender Collection.