Керамика коренных народов Америки: 7500 лет истории

Pottery produced by Indigenous people of the Americas

Ceramics of Indigenous peoples of the Americas is an art form with at least a 7500 year history in the Americas. Pottery is fired ceramics with clay as a component. Ceramics are used for utilitarian cooking vessels, serving and storage vessels, pipes, funerary urns, censers, musical instruments, ceremonial items, masks, toys, sculptures, and a myriad of other art forms. Due to their resilience, ceramics have been key to learning more about pre Columbian Indigenous cultures.

The earliest ceramics known from the Americas have been found in the lower Amazon Basin. Ceramics from the Caverna da Pedra Pintada, near Santarém, Brazil, have been dated to between 7,500 and 5,000 years ago. Ceramics from Taperinha, also near Santarém, have been dated to 8,000 to 7,000 years ago. Some of the sherds at Taperinho were shell tempered, which allowed the sherds themselves to be radiocarbon dated. These first ceramics making cultures were fishers and shellfish gatherers. Ceramics appeared next across northern South America and then down the western side of South America and northward through Mesoamerica. Ceramics of the Alaka culture in Guyana have been dated to 6,000 to 4,500 years ago. Ceramics of the San Jacinto culture in Colombia have been dated to about 4530 BCE, and at Puerto Hormiga, also in Colombia, to about 3794 BCE. Ceramics appeared in the Valdivia culture in Ecuador around 3200 BCE, and in the Pandanche culture in Peru around 2460 BCE. The spread of ceramics in Mesoamerica came later. Ceramics from Monagrillo in Panama have been dated to around 2140 BCE, from Tronadora in Costa Rica to around 1890 BCE, and from Barra in the Soconusco of Chiapas to around 1900 BCE. Ceramics of the Purrón tradition in southcentral Mexico have been dated to around 1805 BCE, and from the Chajil tradition of northcentral Mexico, to around 1600 BCE. The appearance of ceramics in the Southeastern United States does not fit the above pattern. Ceramics from the middle Savannah River in Georgia and South Carolina (known as Stallings, Stallings Island, or St. Simons) have been dated to about 2888 BCE (4500 BP), and ceramics of the Orange and Norwood cultures in northern Florida to around 2460 BCE (4300 BP) (all older than any other dated ceramics from north of Colombia). Ceramics appeared later elsewhere in North America. Ceramics reached southern Florida (Mount Elizabeth) by 4000 BP, Nebo Hill (in Missouri) by 3700 BP, and Poverty Point (in Louisiana) by 3400 BP.

Several Inuit groups, such as the Netsilik, Sadlermiut, Utkuhiksalingmiut, and Caribou Inuit (Qaernerimiut) created utilitarian pottery in historic times, primarily to store food. In Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Canada, when the mine that employed much of the community closed down, the national government created the Rankin Inlet Ceramics Project, whose wares were successfully exhibited in Toronto in 1967. The project foundered but a local gallery revived interest in Inuit ceramics in the 1990s.

Hopewell pottery is the ceramic tradition of the various local cultures involved in the Hopewell tradition (ca. 200 BCE to 400 CE) and are found as artifacts in archeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast. Mississippian culture pottery is the ceramic tradition of the Mississippian culture (800–1600 CE) found as artifacts in archaeological sites in the American Midwest and Southeast.

Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin based their pottery on basketry. The Fremont culture of central Utah (700–1300 CE) developed pottery after adopting agriculture. Paiute and Washoe people in the western Great Basin developed plain, utilitarian ceramics separately, which was not burnished but occasionally featured red painted designs. The Owens Valley Brown Ware is an example of Paiute/Washoe ceramics, which was used for cooking, food storage, and water jugs. The jugs often featured clay handles that accommodated carrying straps.

Southern Athabaskans include the Apache and Navajo.

Barra/Mokaya (c. 1900 BCE)
Tlatilco (c. 1500 BCE)
Olmec (c. 1500–400 BCE)
Teotihuacan (c. 300 BCE – 600 CE)
Zapotec (c. 200–800 CE)
Mixtec(c. 900 CE)
Purépecha (c. 800–1300 CE)
Maya ceramics (c. 317–1200 CE)
Remojadas (c. 750 CE)
Toltec / Mayan (c. 1200–1500 CE)
Aztec (c. 1168–1519 CE)
Coclé, Panama with the following periods: La Mula (c. 150 BCE – 300 CE), Tonosi (c. 300–550 CE), Cubita (c. 550–700 CE), and Gran Cocle (c. 1200–1500 CE). Classic Veracruz Culture (c. 100–1000 CE)
Capacha (c. 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE)
Western Mexico shaft tomb tradition (c. 300 BCE to 550 CE)

Ceramics first appeared in the Antilles as part of the Saladoid culture (named for the Saladero site in the Orinoco basin in Venezuela. Saladoid people appeared in Trinidad around 500 BC or a little later, and had reached Puerto Rico by about 250 BC. The Cedrosan variety of Saladoid ceramics appeared in Trinidad early on, although ceramics in the Antilles continued to closely resemble forms on the Venezuela coast into the Current Era. Cedrosan Saladoid vessels have a distinctive bell shape with "zone incised cross hatching". Many also have complex designs of white on red paint. Later examples were decorated with purple, black, yellow and orange paint. These ceramics are described as "technologically fine, delicate, and graceful." Other ceramics styles are also known from the Antilles during this time period. Barrancoid trade wares, of a style that had developed in the Orinoco River valley around 1000 BC, have been found in the southernmost Antilles; Trinidad, Tobago, and Saint Vincent. A variant of Saladoid ceramics called Huecan has been found from the north coast of Venezuela to Puerto Rico.

Fiber tempered ceramics associated with shell middens left by hunter fisher gatherers of the Early Northwest South American Literature appeared at sites such as Puerto Hormiga, Monsú, Puerto Chacho, and San Jacinto in Colombia by 3100 BCE. Fiber tempered ceramics at Monsú have been dated to 5940 radiocarbon years before present. The fiber tempered pottery at Puerto Hormiga was "crude", formed from a single lump of clay. The fiber tempered pottery at San Jacinto is described as "well made". Sand tempered coiled ceramics have also been found at Puerto Horrible. Ráquira, a town in the Boyacá Department, Colombia, is a major ceramics center, where both indigenous techniques and those introduced by Europeans are employed to create primarily utilitarian pots based on Chibcha designs. Ceramic mobiles, nativity scenes, and animal figurines are popular, especially ceramic horses, which have been the symbol of Colombian pottery. La Chamba in the Tolima Department is known for its blackware. The women potters here also create brown and red ware.

Guaraní ceramics fall into two major categories: na'e, or dishes, and yapepó, pots, pans, and storage containers. These were both utilitarian and ceremonial. The precontact ceramic tradition of the Gran Chaco was dramatically transformed under European colonization, which created a demand for pitchers, cups, and other introduced pottery forms. Author Josefina Pla observed that women are typically potters, and animals associated with men are not represented in Guaraní pottery. Tobatí, a city near Asunción, Paraguay, is renowned for its ceramics, including tiles and female effigy jars, known as Las gorgas. A reddish brown slip, known as tapyta in Guaraní, is popular, with blackware being less common. A local ceramic artist, Don Zenón Páez (b. 1927) became famous for his ceramic figures of saints. Itá, Paraguay is another ceramic center, known for its whimsical, ceramic chickens. Rosa Brítez (b. 1941) is a famous ceramic artist from Itá and has been recognized by UNESCO. The Museo del Barro, "Museum of Clay," in Asunción features pottery from the Gran Chaco, from Pre Columbian Guaraní to contemporary mestizo ceramics.

The pottery tradition at Pedra Pintada in Brazil represents the oldest known ceramics in the Americas. Dating back to 5630 BCE, this same tradition continued for 2500 years. Ceramics from the Taperinha site near Santarém, Brazil date back to 5130 BCE and include sand tempered bowls and cooking vessels resembling gourds. Other ancient Amazonian ceramic traditions, Mina and Uruá Tucumã featured shell and sand tempered pottery, that was occasionally painted red. Around 1000 CE, dramatic new ceramic styles emerged throughout Amazonia. Amazonian ceramics are geometric and linear in decoration. Polychrome pottery typically features red and black on white slips. Additionally ceramics were decorated by sculpting, incision, excision, and grooving. In the upper and central Amazon, the bark of the caraipé tree, Licania octandra, provided tempering material. In regions of terra preta, or "black earth", of the Amazon rainforest, an abundance of potsherds were used to develop the soil and build mounds, which protected buildings and cemeteries from seasonal flooding. Marajó Island, located at the mouth of the Amazon River was a major ceramic center, where the Marajoara Phase of polychrome ceramics last from around 400 to 1300 CE. In the central Amazon, the Mancapuru Phase, or Incised Rim Tradition, emerged in the 5th century CE. Marajoara ceramics, typically tempered with grog, were complex effigies of humans and animals, such as reptiles and birds.