Abstract:One of the common design characteristics on black-on-white pottery from the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the northern American Southwest is the use of thin, parallel lines (hachure) to fill the interior of bands, triangles, or other forms. This essay explores a proposal offered by Jerry Brody that hachure was a symbol for the color blue-green. Brody's proposal is examined by exploring colors and color patterns used to decorate nonceramic material from the Chaco Canyon region of northwestern New Mexico. Hi… Show more
“…Chacoans built a number of large ceremonial structures, or "great kivas," suggesting an increased focus on community-level ritual (15). Finally, this time period also marks the widespread adoption of Gallup and Chaco Black-onwhite style ceramics with their distinctive hachure designs that potentially signify the propagation of a Chacoan ideology throughout the San Juan Basin (17). Coupled with other sources of data, Guiterman et al's (1) findings reinforce the importance of better understanding Chaco's ties to the Chuskan region during the Classic Bonito phase, a period defined by Chaco's growing regional influence and increasing construction labor demands.…”
“…Chacoans built a number of large ceremonial structures, or "great kivas," suggesting an increased focus on community-level ritual (15). Finally, this time period also marks the widespread adoption of Gallup and Chaco Black-onwhite style ceramics with their distinctive hachure designs that potentially signify the propagation of a Chacoan ideology throughout the San Juan Basin (17). Coupled with other sources of data, Guiterman et al's (1) findings reinforce the importance of better understanding Chaco's ties to the Chuskan region during the Classic Bonito phase, a period defined by Chaco's growing regional influence and increasing construction labor demands.…”
“…Others involved the depiction of flowers, clouds, rainbows, and riverine insects (see Hays-Gilpin and Hill 2000), lyrical description (e.g., Hill 1992), and metaphor in dress (e.g., Roediger 1941:132). J. J. Brody suspected that hachure on Chacoan pottery— shu'k’ish-pa-tsí-nan in Zuni (Cushing 1886:488)—might have represented the color blue-green (Plog 2003:670). To test Brody's hypothesis, Plog (2003:673) first identified instances where Pueblo potters suggested that hachure was, in fact, conceptualized as a color (Bunzel 1929:35, 42).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Whereas Bonito phase (AD 920–1130) Chacoan culture emphasized expansion, ostentation, and nonlocal interaction (e.g., Judge 1989; Kantner 1999; Lekson 1999, 2007; Reed 2004; Swentzell 2004:50), Classic period (AD 1000–1130) Mimbres society developed as a small-scale, insular network with little evident connection to what was going on in the north. Given these differences, the few things held in common stand out, including the early introduction of large masonry pueblos, interest in Mesoamerican materials, noteworthy turquoise consumption, and the early use of black hachure on white-slipped pottery (see Anyon and LeBlanc 1984:306–307; Brody 2004; Crown and Hurst 2009; Lekson 1992:116, 1999:52–53; Plog 2003). Figure 1. Map of New Mexico, showing locations of Chaco Canyon and Mimbres River Valley.…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In comparing the meaning(s) of Chacoan and Mimbres hachure, we acknowledge some significant differences, such as the relationship between hachured and solid elements. Some of the best-known examples of Chacoan hachure involve the Gallup-Dogoszhi style, with geometric designs not unlike those of contemporaneous local types (Plog 2003:667). The primary difference is that, while Gallup-Dogoszhi patterns are constructed almost exclusively from hachured elements (Hays-Gilpin and van Hartesveldt 1998:118), patterns on other Northern San Juan pottery are executed almost entirely in solid black (Colton and Hargrave 1937; see Figures 2a and 2b).…”
mentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The primary difference is that, while Gallup-Dogoszhi patterns are constructed almost exclusively from hachured elements (Hays-Gilpin and van Hartesveldt 1998:118), patterns on other Northern San Juan pottery are executed almost entirely in solid black (Colton and Hargrave 1937; see Figures 2a and 2b). On rare occasions, Chacoan vessels combine the two styles with interlocking elements of solid and hachure (Plog 2003:678). While this combination was infrequent in San Juan pottery during the 1000s and early 1100s, it was increasingly common first in the Mimbres region (Mimbres black-on-white; Figure 2c) and then in the Mogollon Highlands (Reserve Black-on-white) (Brody 2004; Rinaldo and Bluhm 1956; Shafer and Brewington 1995).…”
Turquoise has played an important role in the Southwest, both today and in the distant past. Increasingly, archaeologists are coming to appreciate that the mineral was likely valued for its symbolism, rather than its chemical properties or economic worth. Thus, the color blue-green and a variety of blue-green things may have been conceptually analogous, together referencing and petitioning moisture. J. J. Brody recognized that additional symbols, while not themselves blue-green, may have likewise belonged to this blue-green complex. Over a decade ago, and while testing Brody's hypothesis, Stephen Plog convincingly argued that black-on-white hachure in Gallup-Dogoszhi pottery served as a proxy for blue-green. Here, we ask whether Mimbres artists incorporated the same symbolism. Findings suggest that Mimbres hachure was likely representative of color but not necessarily blue-green. In fact, it may have referenced yellow. Yellow and blue are often paired among the Pueblos, and interregional differences in the meaning of hachure may relate to interregional complementarity.
Archaeologists working in the Ancestral Pueblo region of the American Southwest have documented variability in sociopolitical and economic complexity, landscape use, community organization, mobility, and violence at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales from AD 500-1700. Recent studies have a strong synthetic orientation, employ methods that track material culture, mobility, and social networks at macroregional scales, and benefit from a renewed engagement with indigenous peoples. Much of this research relies on integrating vast amounts of data from numerous academic and cultural resource management projects and demonstrates the promise of an archaeology that relies on the cumulative acquisition and sharing of data. Given the scale and depth of this research, Ancestral Pueblo archaeology is an exceptional comparative case for archaeologists considering similar processes, especially at fine temporal and wide geographical scales, in ancient farming societies across the globe.
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