Photo Gallery

Anasazi pottery - Bowl, black on gray, with concentric lines and dots; 5.48 inches diameter, MNA
MNA = Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff (Arizona)

Hohokam pottery with geometric and naturalistic designs. - Deep bowl, with concentric circles and parallel lines, later repainted. Height: 2.8 inches. HMP. Pitcher found in a child's grave. Diameter: 5.2 inches. HMP
HMP = Heard Museum, Phoenix (Arizona)

Typical Chaco Canyon pottery, black on white, with stairway-like motifs, triangles, chessboard squares, elongated spirals and crosshatched areas. Anasazi Culture. - Bowl. Diameter: 8.0 inches. CCP
CCP = Museum Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Chaco Canyon (New Mexico)

Typical Chaco Canyon pottery, black on white, with stairway-like motifs, triangles, chessboard squares, elongated spirals and crosshatched areas. Anasazi Culture. - Bowl with painted rim. Diameter: 4.2 inches. CCP
CCP = Museum Chaco Culture National Historical Park, Chaco Canyon (New Mexico)

Three bowls found in Hopi graves that represent a link between prehistoric and historic times with their continuity in form and decorative motifs; UCM. - Bowl, brown on ochre, with schematized animal. (PUE-179B/C)
UCM = University of Colorado Museum, Boulder (Colorado)

Three bowls found in Hopi graves that represent a link between prehistoric and historic times with their continuity in form and decorative motifs; UCM. - Polychrome bowl with the magic hand symbol. Diameter: 10.56 inches. (PUE-179A/C)
UCM = University of Colorado Museum, Boulder (Colorado)

Three bowls found in Hopi graves that represent a link between prehistoric and historic times with their continuity in form and decorative motifs; UCM. - Polychrome bowl, arm and hand (with schematized fingernails). Diameter: 10.4 inches. (PUE-179A/B) -- Museumdaten fehlen!
UCM = University of Colorado Museum, Boulder (Colorado)

Shallow bowl, red on ochre. The composition is made up of four symmetrical sections of a circle, each depicting a dancer holding the waist of Kokopelli, the hunchback flute player, shown wearing a feather headdress. The bent legs and body indicate the movement of the dance. Diameter: 10.84 inches. Snaketown (Arizona), Hohokam Culture, ASM.
ASM = Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson (Arizona)

The spiral and swastika are universal signs. They are found in the megalithic architecture on Malta, on African pottery, in Carnac, in the heart of the Sahara, and in the petroglyphs and pottery of the Southwest. A shallow bowl in the shape of a turtle shell. Length: 6.16 inches. Casas Grandes (Mexico), AFM.
AFM = Amerind Foundation Museum, Dragoon (Arizona)

On pottery as well as in pictogra phs universal signs are found over and over: zig-zag lines (representing lightning), tadpole or frog (water), the triangle, dot, etc. - Mimbres bowl, black on white. Diameter: 14.24 inches. HMP.
HMP = Heard Museum, Phoenix (Arizona)

On pottery as well as in pictogra phs universal signs are found over and over: zig-zag lines (representing lightning), tadpole or frog (water), the triangle, dot, etc. - Mimbres bowl, black on white, stylized insects and parallel lines. Diameter: 18.28 inches. UCM.
UCM = University of Colorado Museum, Boulder (Colorado)

Historic Pueblo pottery has, to a large extent, retained the formal vocabulary of the prehistoric pots. - Pottery bowl with feather design (comparable to the painted Mimbres pot on page 160). Made in about 1957 by Maria Martinez, one of the best known contemporary Pueblo potters, from Pueblo San Ildefonso, New Mexico. Diameter: 11.88 inches.
MNA = Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff (Arizona)

Hohokam pottery with geometric and naturalistic designs. - Flat bowl, red on ochre. Diameter: 12 inches. HMP
HMP = Heard Museum, Phoenix (Arizona)

Bowl made of soapstone dating from the pre-Columbian period of 400-1200 A.D., found in the Fraser Valley near Aldergrove, presumed to have been the property of a Coast Salish shaman. (Lent by J. Yoshioka; 19 cm; MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Wooden bowl for fish oil (31 cm, 12 inches), Makah culture,Ozette

Two bears in double profile holding a bowl shaped like an eagle's beak. Alder wood, nacre, carved approximately 1895. (38 cm: SJM)
SJM = Sheldon Jackson Museum, Sitka

Wooden bowl for ceremonial use in the shape of a raven lying down with a hawk's head protruding from its tail feathers. (32 cm; MM)
MM = McCord Museum, McGill University, Montreal

bowl for food in the shape of a frog. (23 cm: MOA)
MOA = Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Sur fond d'azur dilué, deux napas, lamas blancs aux longs cous croisés, totems des Collas du lac Titicaca, décorent cette céramique plate à deux anses. Elle daterait de la conquête inca (1300-1470) des tropicales vallées boliviennes. (Instituto nacional de Arqueologia, La Paz, Bolivie.)

A traditional mud-brick house in the village of Khuri in the Thar Desert. These houses are characterised by their hand-painted walls, which often feature colourful geometric patterns in shades of red, yellow and white. In the foreground is a girl in a bright pink robe, carrying a bowl on her head – a typical scene from daily life in the rural regions of Rajasthan. – 1990