Plateau (Journal), Volume 24, Number 2: Hopi Pottery Firing Temperatures et al

Description

Authors: Colton, Harold S. (1881-1970) (Hopi Pottery); Wendorf, Fred (1924-2015) (Twin Butte Site); Jackson, Robert L. (Supai Formation), and Judd, Neil M. (1887-1976) (Nampeyo)

Publisher: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art (Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff, AZ)

Pub Date: 1951

Binding: Paperback

Condition: 3 copies.  Copy 1 (JDFP): Fair.  Stapled binding tight.  No tears, bends or folds.  Previous owners’ stamp on upper front cover corner and on upper corner first and second pages.  Sun-fading to front and rear spine edges.  Light edge and corner wear.  Copy 2 (JDFP): Fair.  Stapled binding tight.  No tears, folds.  Previous owner’s stamp on upper front cover corner.  Lower front cover corner bumped, extends through entire volume.  Light edge wear.  Copy 3 (JDFP): Fair.  Stapled binding tight.  No marks, tears, folds.  Lower rear cover corner has an approx. 1″ bend, extends through entire volume.  Slight sun-fading to front spine edge.  Light edge wear.

Notes:  Journal.  Colton and the Museum of Northern Arizona invited seven Hopi women to demonstrate how their pottery is fired.  “All materials needed, such as sheep dung, coal, sandstone fragments, and large potsherds were gathered on the Indian Reservation and brought to the grounds of the Museum.” (Page 73)  The range of temperatures  for seventeen firings ranged from 720°C (1328°F) to 885°C (1625°F).  A potential problem–lack of sheep dung.  Wendorf’s “The Twin Butte Site”, in the Petrified Forest National Monument, was a straightforward excavation over two seasons.  “The ceramic components of the site could be divided into two main groups, one, gray in color, the other, brown…The mingling of ceramic traditions, often considered determinants of two different cultural patterns, the Anasazi (gray wares) and Mogollon (brown wares), is one of the most interesting features of the site.” (Page 81).  Jackson’s “Supai Formation” essay concludes “The Supai formation of central Arizona is an advancing continental deltaic deposit of Pennsylvanian -Permian age which has caused a regression of the Pennsylvanian sea due to sedimentation exceeding subsidence in the area.” (Page 91).  The final essay, “Nampeyo,  An Additional Note”,  by Neil Judd, helps determine more precisely the year of her birth and the circumstances that influenced her career as a potter.