Gourd-shaped Canteen

The ceramic traditions of the Ancestral Puebloan artists were diverse. The ceramics are remarkable for their artistry and precision, particularly since we know that they were not made on potters’ wheels, but built by hand from a series of clay coils, scraped and polished to produce refined forms. Pitchers and jars, or ollas, were made to store water or grain. Their surface elaboration reflects the artistic challenge of adapting two dimensional forms to a three dimensional design field. The motifs featured comprise an enormous lexicon of geometric forms constructed from solids, hachures (linear strokes), and spirals.

The ruins of pueblos and cliff dwellings of the Prehistoric Southwest bear impressive testimony to the cultural and artistic achievements of the ancestors of the Native American people who today inhabit the "Four Corners" (Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico). The Ancestral Puebloan peoples were farmers with engineering skills that enabled them to construct multi-storied masonry dwellings, ceremonial structures, and irrigation works.