By its very nature, a synthesis of pre-Hispanic pottery technology in North America must be general in terms of both cultural areas and specific techniques. Although it is my hope to present here a fair representation of current knowledge, it is by no means meant to be a final discussion of the topic. Rather, it is my intention to provide a starting point for individuals interested in considering the multiple dimensions of indigenous pottery production in North America over time and space.
Earliest Pottery Production by Cultural Region
North America can be divided into ten broad cultural areas: Arctic and sub-Arctic, Northwest Coast, West Coast (including Baja California), Plateau, Great Basin, southwest United States, northern Mexico, the Plains, northeast United States, and southeast United States (Fig. 1). With the exception of the Northwest Coast (where only a few clay pipes and figurines have been found; Ross, 1990), all of these regions developed or adopted pottery in the pre-His...
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Eckert, S.L. (2014). Ceramics in Pre-Hispanic North America . In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_8804-2
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