people, situated on the east bank of the Rio Grande some twenty miles
northeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico. San Ildefonso was chosen for the
present study because its women have always been skillful potters, and
under the wise and friendly encouragement of the authorities of the
School of American Research at Santa Fe have of recent years been
steadily improving in their work without, however, sacrificing any of
their native methods. Furthermore, they make more varieties of pottery
than are turned out at any other one village. Last, and in some ways
most important, the men of San Ildefonso have for a long time been
accustomed to work in the various excavations carried on by the School,
cordial relations have been established, the confidence of the Indians
has been thoroughly won, and I did not encounter that reticence toward
strangers, so characteristic of the Rio Grande Pueblos, because I was
known to be a friend of their friends.
To the Pueblo woman pottery making is simply one of the mechanical
household tasks, just as dishwashing is among us. Nearly every woman at
San Ildefonso is a potter, good, bad, or indifferent. In two cases, at
least, women have developed into real artists, and are relieved of other
household duties in order to devote their time to pottery making. Each
potter of today watched her mother make innumerable pots while she was
growing up, and now with a family of her own, she makes pottery just as
did her mother. Many steps and small details are carried out for no
other reason than that the mother used to do likewise. Obviously every
potter has her own technique, which differs slightly from that of
others. The daughters in one family work in more nearly the same manner
than outsiders, because they all have had the same teacher. In this
report the attempt has been made not only to record the essential steps
in the making of pottery, but also to note individual variations as an
index of the amount of latitude a given process may permit.
Because religion and ceremony play so important a role in the everyday
life of the Pueblo Indians, it is certain that there must be involved in
the making of pottery and particularly in its decoration, a mass of
esoteric beliefs and practises. The Pueblos, however, are so loath to
refer in any way to the mystical side of their existence, and, if it is
even mentioned, at once become so suspicious, that it seemed best to
steer clear of all allusion to such matters. The present report,
therefore, confines itself to a description and discussion of the
purely technical side of the potter’s art.
The writer is indebted to the staff of the School of American Research,
especially to Mr. Kenneth M. Chapman, for the facilities given for and
the interest shown in the work; also to the Governor of San Ildefonso,
Juan Gonzales, for his cordial coöperation. Of the eight informants
used, Maria, wife of Julian Martinez, and Antonita, wife of Juan Cruz
Roybal, should specially be mentioned because of their constant
patience, and their willingness to answer the many questions which to
them must often have seemed absurd. Thanks are also due to the American
Museum of Natural History, New York, for the photographs of pottery
making at Zuñi (pls. 28-31) which are introduced in this paper for
comparative purposes.
[Illustration: PLATE 9
WINNOWING CLAY
a. Hand method. As the material is sifted through the uplifted hands,
the wind blows the fine, pure clay upon the shawl at the left, while the
heavier impurities drop back on the pile.
b. Basket method. The clay is repeatedly tossed upward from the basket,
until all the fine particles have been blown out and have fallen upon
the shawl.]
RAW MATERIALS; COLLECTION, AND PREPARATION
INGREDIENTS
_Red Clay_[5]
The region most often visited for obtaining this clay is directly south
of San Ildefonso, about a quarter of a mile from the village itself, in
the arroyos of the low hills.[6] The deposit lies directly under a
sandstone ledge and spreads over a considerable area. The clay is in the
form of soft earth, easily scooped up with the hand. In gathering it the
Indians first scrape off the top half-inch or so, which contains
impurities such as small pebbles and twigs. When an area from two to
three feet in diameter has been cleared in this way, the clay itself is
scooped into a loose pile in the centre of the space, and transferred by
the cupped hands into a woman’s shawl or a gunny-sack, and so
transported to the house on the back.[7]
One method of cleaning the clay may be used either at the beds or at
home. The material is winnowed like wheat to remove small pebbles and
fine gravel, either of which will ruin a vessel. The larger impurities
are of course picked out by hand. The cloth containing the clay is
placed in front of the woman and a second cloth or shawl is spread on
the ground to leeward of her. A gusty wind requires several shiftings of
the shawl, to the woman’s evident annoyance. A double handful is lifted
and allowed to sift through the fingers; the fine particles and dust are
blown upon the shawl by the wind, while the heavier pieces fall again
upon the pile of uncleaned clay (pl. 9, a). The height to which the
hands are lifted, varying from three to five feet, the speed of the
movements, and the rapidity with which the material is allowed to sift
through the fingers, all depend upon the force of the wind. Sometimes,
instead of lifting the clay in the hands, it is allowed to flow over the
side of a shallow basket tilted toward the woman at the level of her
shoulder; the coarser particles fall straight down in front of her on
the pile of uncleaned clay. Another variation is to toss the clay into
the air from a shallow basket (pl. 9, b). The movement is repeated
quickly and rhythmically; the wind as before blowing the fine stuff on
the shawl, while the coarse particles fall back into the basket. After
this tossing has been repeated a dozen or more times, the residue, which
consists mostly of coarse impurities, is thrown away. The process
occupies approximately half an hour, depending somewhat upon the amount
of clay handled. The cleaned clay, which is now ready for mixing, is by
no means entirely dust; it contains no lumps, but flaky particles fully
three-sixteenths of an inch across are often found in it.
If at the time of gathering the wind is not strong enough for winnowing,
the uncleaned clay is brought to the house. Here it may be kept for a
windy day, or may at once be sifted through an ordinary kitchen sieve of
medium large mesh.
The clay, when cleaned, may be stored in a variety of receptacles
(pottery vessels, sacks, or boxes), or, if it is the intention of the
woman to use it within a few days, it is simply left in the shawl.
During the fall the Indians gather great quantities of clay, and pile it
on the floor in the corner of a room for use during the winter when the
clay beds are frozen.
The preparation of the clay for use consists of two processes, mixing
and kneading. The mixing, which as a rule immediately precedes the
kneading, consists of the addition of temper (see page 21). This is done
while both ingredients are dry. Different varieties of clay are not
mixed together. The work is done on a piece of canvas, an opened
cement-sack, or the inner side of a skin (usually that of a goat or
dog).[8] Either the clay or the temper may be put on the mixing surface
first; the other ingredient is then added, and the whole is sifted
through the fingers until the mass is uniform in color. The Indians have
no definite idea of the necessary proportions. They judge simply by the
color of the resulting mixture. The proportions used by three different
informants seemed to be about one-third temper and two-thirds clay.
Before mixing, the clay is reddish brown; the addition of temper
lightens the color several shades.
The scrapings from partly finished vessels (see page 54) and the
ground-up fragments of pots which have cracked badly in the course of
sun-drying are used a second time. This re-used clay, since it already
has temper in it, does not need to be mixed over again. It is mingled
with newly mixed clay just before kneading, or is kneaded by itself, as
occasion demands.
The kneading is usually done on the same canvas or skin that was used
for the mixing. If a large amount of clay is to be treated at one time,
a quantity of water is poured into a hollow formed in the centre of the
pile. Later, as the worked clay or paste approaches the proper
consistency, water is sprinkled over it with one hand, just as clothes
are sprinkled, at first copiously, later more sparingly. At the
beginning, the entire mass is kneaded until the water has been
thoroughly absorbed. When the paste is wet, it becomes of course
considerably darker. It is then divided into masses which can easily be
handled, about the size of two large loaves of white bread. The woman
works the paste to a uniform consistency in exactly the same way that
dough is kneaded (pl. 12, a), and piles the masses, now ready for use in
moulding, on a board or canvas, covering then with a piece of cloth to
keep them damp until they come under the potter’s hands. The consistency
is that of putty, just dry enough to crack if pinched. The mixing and
kneading can be completed in half an hour.[9]
[Illustration: PLATE 10
a. Indian digging material for tempering pottery from an outcrop near
the village.
b. Guaco, or Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, from the juice of which is made
black paint for decorating pottery.]
_White Clay_
White clay is used interchangeably with red, but the two are never
mixed. It is obtained in the bad-lands to the northeast of San
Ildefonso, from the side of an arroyo at some distance from the village.
The Indians dig it, bring it home, and prepare it in exactly the same
manner as the red clay. The color, when dry, is greyish white; when wet,
brownish grey.
_Temper_
The Indians of San Ildefonso obtain their tempering material from
outcrops along the Santa Fe-Española road, in the vicinity of the
landmark known as Camel Rock. Near the crest of the first high hill
crossed by the road north of Camel Rock, just west of the road, in the
eastern bank of the cut of the old abandoned road, is a small cave made
by the digging of this temper (pl. 10, a). There is another outcrop in
the ridge of which Camel Rock is a part. This mineral is a very light
grey in color. When freshly exposed to the air it is soft and
crumbly--fragments as large as the fist can be crushed in the hand--but
after being exposed for some time it hardens. When chopped out with an
axe or hatchet it takes the form of small fragments and fine powder.
There are veins and nodules of a hard yellow rock in the stratum, which
are chopped out and thrown away. The source of the temper is at such a
distance from the pueblo that trips to it are made only at long
intervals when a large quantity is secured in cement-bags, and carried
home in a wagon. Two cement-bags may be filled with from fifteen to
twenty minutes’ work at the quarry.
Some of the Indians, while still at the quarry, pound the temper with an
axe or hatchet, or a stone, to break the larger pieces and remove the
coarser impurities. Others wait to clean it until reaching the house. In
the latter case the temper is spread on a cloth or skin; the skin being
preferred as offering a smoother, more resistant surface. It is then
broken up by trampling it with moccasined feet. Formerly the Indians
ground the temper on their metates. The final step in the preparation is
to pass the material through a sieve to remove the smaller impurities
such as sand and crushed rock. Before the sieve was known, the Indians
spread the temper in a very thin layer on a board or skin, and went over
it carefully and painstakingly with their fingers, feeling for any
slight irregularities or rough places. The temper when cleaned is a fine
powder, which looks and feels like dry cement. It is stored in old
cement-bags ready to be mixed with the clay.
The purpose of the addition of tempering material is to counteract the
tendency of the pure clay to crack during the shrinkage that takes place
in sun-drying and in firing. If, however, there is too much temper, the
clay becomes “short” and loses its adhesiveness. The Indians understand
this fully, for if vessels crack badly during sun-drying, they are
ground up, and more temper is added to the paste before it is used
again; if, on the other hand, a pot will not retain its shape while
being moulded, it is pulled down, more dry clay added to the paste, and
the mass rekneaded.[10]
_Cooking-Vessel, or Apache, Clay_
This is very different from the two other kinds of clays used. It is
light brown in color, with a large quantity of fine mica flakes in
it[11]; it also has a distinctive odor. When wet it smells cleaner and
fresher than the red or white clay, like a newly plowed field after a
shower. Some of the San Ildefonso Indians obtain this clay from Las
Truchas, a mountain district to the northeast of the village[12]; others
get it from Santa Fe Canyon. It is dug either with the hand or with a
small stick, and is brought to the pueblo in the form of small lumps.
While still in this condition, it is stored in vessels or bags.
The preparation for use is very different from that of the other clays.
The lumps are put in a receptacle, such as an enameled washbasin, and
sufficient water is added to saturate them. If too much water has been
mixed in, the mass is put in the sun to dry out for a while. After the
clay has been thoroughly softened by the water, the next step is to
remove the pebbles. A small handful is carefully and slowly squeezed and
kneaded in the left hand, while the thumb and forefinger of the right
are used to pick out the numerous small pebbles as they are encountered.
After most of these have been removed, the clay is put on a canvas or
skin, and a small part of it at a time is flattened out with the heel of
the right hand, pressing away from the body, and against the cloth or
skin so as to produce a very thin layer, in which the smaller pebbles
are readily felt and from which they can easily be eliminated. Finally
when this has been done with all the clay, the whole mass is kneaded
together, just as the red and white clays are kneaded. When a uniform
consistency has been attained--that of putty--the mass is ready for use.
The removal of pebbles and the kneading consume from one-half to
three-quarters of an hour. The pebbles which have been removed are
placed in a small lard-pail containing water, and when the clay adhering
to them has dissolved, they are thrown away and the clayey water is used
in the process of moulding the paste.
The most important difference between this clay and the others is that
no temper of any kind is mixed with it; the clay, after being cleaned,
is used in the vessels just as it came out of the claypit. The fine mica
flakes probably act as temper.
SLIPS AND PAINTS
_Native Slip_[13]
This is a white, flaky, fairly soft mineral, which is used in solution
to give a white outer coating to the bodies of vessels. It is found at
some distance from the pueblo, beyond the bad-lands which are visible to
the northeast. When the Indians reach the place they pick up small
sticks to use as digging tools, but if the deposit happens to be soft
enough, the material is merely scooped out with the hand. It is carried
home in shawls or bags, and placed in the sun to dry thoroughly; then
stored in pottery vessels, usually ollas. It receives no further
treatment at this time. When preparing it for use, the Indians simply
place it in water as it is, in small lumps. The container is either a
small pottery vessel or an enamelled basin. A sufficient amount is mixed
with the water to give it the color of milk, but not to thicken it.
Occasionally the consistency of thin cream is obtained. Undissolved
lumps remain in the solution.
_Santo Domingo Slip_
This substance, known to the Indians of San Ildefonso either as “Santo
Domingo white” or “Cochiti white”, is usually obtained from the Santo
Domingo people; it is dug, according to some informants, in the same
manner as the native slip. In color and general appearance it is exactly
like the latter, but its surface feels more soapy. Santo Domingo slip
has largely replaced the native product, because when applied it does
not need to be polished with a stone, as does the native slip. It is
prepared for use in exactly the same manner as the native slip.
_Red Slip_
This is a rather loose red earth, which is dug either with the hands or,
if conditions demand it, with a small stick. The San Ildefonso Indians
obtain it near Santa Fe, but not all of the women know the exact
location of the beds. One informant said it was found in Santa Fe
Canyon, east of the town, a short distance below the Apache clay beds,
at a spot where the convicts from the Penitentiary get material for
their bricks. There are three different colors of clay at this place,
red, yellow, and white. The red is the clay under discussion. The white
is used to color the women’s moccasins.[14]
This slip is handled in much the same manner as the other clays. It is
brought home in the usual receptacles--either shawls or bags--and placed
in the sun to dry thoroughly. It is then stored, usually in ollas or
other earthenware vessels, without further treatment.
There are two ways of preparing red slip for use, according to the kind
of vessel for which it is intended. For polished black ware, it is
simply mixed to a thin solution with water. For decorated red ware, the
process is slightly complicated. At some previous time, equal parts of
temper and native slip have been mixed in water and allowed to dry in
cakes. When desired for use on a vessel, the cakes are broken and
redissolved in water. A sufficient amount is put in to give the water an
opaque, milky color, but not to thicken it. To this mixture is added a
thin solution of the red slip. There is, apparently, no definite rule in
regard to the amount of the red solution to be added. The woman simply
puts in enough to give to the slip, when applied to a pot, the proper
shade of red. In some cases this mixing of the red and white is done
once for all at the beginning of the application of the red slip. In
other cases the woman has a bowl of each solution beside her, and from
time to time, as she works, adds some of the red to the white. In each
bowl lumps of the undissolved substances still remain. Occasionally the
slip is stirred to the consistency of cream, but nearly always it has
that of water.
_Orange-Red Slip_
This substance is a yellow clayey earth, in texture somewhat like the
two white slips. It occurs in the “Valle” to the west, beyond the first
Jemez range, near Ojo Caliente. It is dug with a stick, in the same
manner as the native white, and is carried home in shawls and bags.
Before being stored it is put out in the sun to dry thoroughly, then
placed in ollas and kept until needed. Like the other slips, it is
prepared for use by being mixed with water. A saturated solution is
made, but the consistency remains that of water.
This material, which in solution is a brilliant yellow, is used for two
purposes--as a slip to color the bases of bowls and ollas, and as a
paint to supply the red elements of polychrome designs. After being
fired it assumes an orange-red or burnt-sienna color.[15]
_Black Ware Paint_
This is a paint used for making matte designs on polished black ware, a
new departure in decorative technique first used by Maria and Julian
Martinez of San Ildefonso, in June, 1921. The substance is a hard yellow
stone, said to occur in the “Valle”, west of the Jemez range, near Ojo
Caliente, in the same district as the orange-red paint.
The first step in preparing the paint for use is to scrape the stone
with a knife. The resulting powder is mixed with water, and there is
then added about one-fourth as much dissolved “guaco” (see below) as
there is paint. It is said that the purpose of the guaco is to make the
paint “stick” to the polished surface. This paint, when ready for use,
is kept in a small earthenware or china dish. The consistency of the
mixture, like the other paints, is that of water.
_Black or Guaco Paint_
This is the only vegetable paint used by the San Ildefonso Indians for
the decoration of their pottery. It is obtained from a very common weed,
known as the Rocky Mountain Bee Plant, or Guaco,[16] which grows in the
moister flats of this district in great profusion. It flowers late in
July and early August, and the seedpods open toward the first of
September. The Indians say it grows at a given place only in alternate
years. In favorable spots the plants attain a height of five or six feet
(pl. 10, b).
The plant is gathered during April and May, when the shoots are only six
to ten inches high, and therefore tender. Great quantities of it are
carried home in shawls and bags. It is placed with water in Apache-clay
cooking-pots, and is boiled over an open fire, never on a stove. As
guaco has a bitter taste (“hot like pepper”, the women describe it) when
not cooked sufficiently, it is necessary to boil it until this
unpleasant flavor has disappeared. Over a hot fire half a day is long
enough, but often a whole day is required. Then the liquid is drained
into wide-mouthed earthen vessels and placed in the sun to harden into a
solid, black, rather sticky, mass. Some women reboil the liquid until it
thickens, before placing it in the sun. Metal containers are not used,
because they are said to spoil the color. The informants stated that
hardened guaco was not eaten. When it has become completely solidified
it is set away for future use in painting. It will keep indefinitely.
The residue in the pot, after the liquid has been poured off consists of
tender stems and leaves. This is eaten by the Indians, and is not unlike
spinach.
The hardened guaco juice is stored at least a year before it is used in
painting; the longer it is kept the better black it produces. If it is
used during the first year, the resulting color on the vessel is a
streaky blue-black.
Guaco is prepared for use in painting in the same manner as the other
pigments. A chunk of the hardened mass is broken off and dissolved in
water. One informant makes a solution which, although black, has the
consistency of water. The others use a syrupy solution almost like thin
molasses. The paint has a distinctive, not unpleasant, vegetable odor,
and is rather sticky. Any small, wide-mouthed Indian bowl, not too
shallow, is used as a paint-cup. In this bowl there is always a
stirring-stick, usually a splinter from a board.
FUEL
_Manure_
Both cow-manure and horse-manure are used for fuel in burning pottery,
but sheep-dung, when obtainable, is preferred, because it is thought to
make a hotter fire.
The cow-manure is collected from the corrals, and while still soft is
patted into large circular cakes, sixteen to twenty inches in diameter.
These, after being hardened in the sun, are stored in a dry room until
needed. Such circular cakes, with the hand-prints showing, are usually
employed for making the top of the oven.
The horse-manure is obtained from the corrals in the early spring, where
during the winter it has been trampled down by the horses into a compact
layer a foot or more thick. When the corrals are cleaned during April
this deposit is cut with an axe into chunks roughly two feet square.
After being removed, the squares are split with an axe into slabs
several inches thick, which are then stood up against the bases of house
or barn walls to dry in the sun, and later stored indoors until needed.
Disused bread-ovens sometimes serve as temporary storage places. Further
splitting of the slabs may be done at the time of firing. When used in
the ovens the slabs are from one to two inches thick.
Sometimes the slabs of manure are placed in the sun for a day or two
before being burned, but often they are taken directly from the
store-room to the fire, where they are supplemented by dried manure
collected from the pastures.
During the burning of polished black ware (see p. 74) the oven is
smothered with loose manure, which is brought in galvanized washtubs
directly from the stables and corrals, either at the time of burning, or
on the preceding day.[17]
_Kindling_
For starting the fire in the oven no wood but cedar is ever used. This
is cut into pieces from six to eighteen inches long and is split into
fine kindling at the time of burning.
[Illustration: PLATE 11
Gourd spoons, or kajepes, used to shape and smooth the walls of
vessels.]
PARAPHERNALIA
PRIMARY PARAPHERNALIA
_Earthenware Moulds or “Pukis”_
These moulds are usually the bases of broken bowls or ollas.
Occasionally pieces of pottery are made especially for moulds; in such
cases, although they are fired, they are neither finished carefully nor
decorated.