RedNova News – There’s More to the Mimbres Than the Pottery by Barbara Harrelson

The famous black-on-white Mimbres pottery and this culture’s unique mortuary behavior are depicted in various chapters, as are the complex tiers of Mimbres social organization. Details on the bioarchaeology of the NAN Ranch Ruin summarize “the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of a Mimbres skeletal population.”

“The Mimbres culture holds a certain fascination for those who have an interest in southwestern archaeology due to the artistic legacy of their painted pottery,” Shafer notes, adding, “This decorative style has no equal in the American Southwest: the stylistic images of the pottery symbolize and identify a unique cultural heritage.” …

By the way, the name Mimbres comes from the Spanish word for willow, with the river and surrounding valley being named for the trees growing along the water. The Mimbres Valley and the NAN Ranch Ruin are northeast of New Mexico’s Boot Heel. (Western New Mexico University in Silver City is home to a distinctive museum of the Mimbres culture.)

“The site was named after the ranch cattle brand, NAN, by C.B. Cosgrove, who, with the help of his son, Burt Jr., in 1926, was among the first to excavate at the site,” Shafer explains.

MIMBRES ARCHAEOLOGY
AT THE NAN RANCH RUIN
By Harry J. Shafer
University of New Mexico Press
304 pages, $59.95