THE ANCIENT CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICAN POTTERY 

 IN THE COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID 



IN 1892. 



By WALTER HOUGH, Ph. D. 



There is an attractiveness about a collection of ancient American 

 pottery which arrests the most casual observer. The forms, having 

 their origin from natural sources, or from the conception of the potter, 

 the decorations with the lines of inquiry which they provoke, and the 

 uses of these objects, whether they entered into the religious or the 

 home life of the ancient people, all stimulate the mind to further 

 inquiries. 



Looking deeper into the finished products the student is compelled 

 to observe the materials their combination and temper rendering the 

 clay fit for use the building up of the vessel, the tools for forming, 

 polishing the surface, the brushes, the colors, the decoration, and the 

 final baptism in fire. 



It is principally to this study of technique that the following paper 

 relates, in order to give an idea of the state of the potter s art in Cen 

 tral and South America at times more or less remote. The material 

 for examination consisted of large collections from Mexico, Guatemala, 

 Nicaragua, Costa Kica, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, with small col 

 lection^ from several other States exhibited in the Columbian Historical 

 Exhibition at Madrid. 



It has seemed better to describe the pottery by countries, although 

 manifestly the older culture areas do not often coincide with the present 

 political boundaries. The time has not yet come when the ancient 

 tribal areas can be accurately determined, but to the attainment of this 

 result the testimony of pottery is of great value. 



The order followed in this examination, the results of which are set 

 forth in this paper, is as follows: (1) The paste, whether simple or 

 mixed, and the components; (2) the mode of construction; (3) the 

 surface whether natural, tooled, or burnished the slips or glazes, if 

 any; (4) the ornamentation; (5) the forms. 



One of the earliest discoveries in the ceramic art was the degraissant, 

 or temper. Pure clay paste is nearly always unsuitable, because in 

 drying or firing it usually cracks from unequal stress, and especially so 

 since primitive pottery might not be dried gradually in places of uni 

 form temperature. 



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