Mimbres: Dimples, Slip-Slop, and Clapboard - What They Are and Why They Matter with Dr. Steve Lekson

The artistry of Mimbres potters (southwestern New Mexico ca. 1050) was uniquely their own. But the technology of their pottery was not. The techniques – manifest as dimples, slip-slop, and clapboard – were shared with contemporary societies to the west and to the north. The Mimbres of southwestern New Mexico were first deeply connected to the Hohokam civilization to the west in Arizona and then, around A.D. 1000 shifted their interests to Chaco and the Pueblo north. Mimbres had its own history, of course, ending with the rise of Casas Grandes. But Mimbres’s engagements first with Hohokam and then with Chaco shaped Mimbres society – and Mimbres pottery. The techniques of Mimbres pottery and their provenance help us better understand Mimbres' role in the history of the greater Southwest.