87
that grow throughout the area. Lacking written
documents, we do not know how the people of
the culture referred to themselves.
Mimbres culture flourished from around AD
850–1150, producing ceramics with increasingly
intricate and precise motifs painted on the concave
interior of bowls. Decorated Mimbres ceramics
were largely limited to their characteristic
bowls, which are usually about three to five inches
tall and range in diameter from around six to
fourteen inches. The usual black decoration on
their interiors sometimes appears brown or red
due to oxygen-reduced firing. Wear patterns
indicate that many of these bowls were used
for serving food, but they also served as grave
goods, covering the head of the deceased. Examples
found in this context may or may not
show signs of use, and they generally have a
“kill hole” in the center, perhaps intended to
diffuse the power of the ceramic and/or provide
a path for the spirit of the deceased to exit
the body and enter the spirit world.
By the mid part of the twelfth century, the
Mimbres people stopped making these distinctive
painted ceramics. This appears to have been
due to severe drought and deforestation, making
this arid region much less livable. Mimbres people
remained in the area, evidently scattered into
MIMBRES
FIG. 6 (below):
Mexican free-tailed bat
(Tadarida brasiliensis).
Photo: Miguel Ordeñana,
Los Angeles County Museum of
Natural History.
FIG. 1 (left): An open
datura flower.
Photo: Richard Ehrlich.
FIG. 2 (far left): Detail of
fig. 11.
FIG. 3 (right): Bowl with
abstraction of an evening
primrose blossom.
Mimbres, New Mexico.
AD 850–1150.
Ceramic. D: 19.7 cm.
Private collection.
Photo © 2018 Museum Associates/
LACMA.
FIG. 4 (bottom right): Bowl
with abstraction of a bat.
Mimbres, New Mexico.
AD 850–1150.
Ceramic. D: 21.9 cm.
Lent by the Fredericks Family.
Photo © 2018 Museum Associates/
LACMA.
FIG. 5 (below):
Tufted evening primrose
(Oenothera caespitosa).
Photo: Roger Matsuka.