Polly Schaafsma, author of "New Perspectives on Pottery Mound Pueblo," will present a talk Saturday, July 11, at 7 p.m. at Petroglyph National Monument Visitors Center, 4735 Western Trails NW. Ancestral Puebloan peoples inhabited the Pottery Mound site on New Mexico’s Rio Puerco River from the late 14th to the late 15th centuries, when Archaeologist Frank C. Hibben began excavating Pottery Mound 50 years ago, archaeologists were paying relatively little attention to Ancestral Pueblo sites.
Hibben found that Pottery Mound was home to diverse Puebloan characteristics evident in both Rio Grande Pueblos and the Western Pueblos. Hibben also discovered an abundance of pottery styles and layers of murals in eleven kivas that are a magnificent archive of religious iconography of the period.
Despite its importance to the study of Southwestern archaeology, Pottery Mound remains poorly studied, under published, and largely neglected.
In New Perspectives on the Pottery Mound Pueblo, renowned Southwestern archaeologist Polly Schaafsma presents essays by contemporary scholars on the site’s murals, rock art, pottery, textiles, and archaeofaunal remains.
Contributors revisit Pottery Mound for new insights into inhabitants' regional interactions, migrations, and trade during the Pueblo IV period—a time of dynamic change in Puebloan culture.
Media Contact: Carolyn Gonzales, (505) 277-5920; e-mail: cgonzal@unm.edu