In 2003, the State Historical Fund awarded the Colorado Historical Society’s department of material culture a grant to survey, inventory, catalog, and re-house the Society’s undocumented archaeology collections. The project coordinator, along with six interns and volunteers, focused their efforts on enhancing catalog records for more than fifteen hundred whole or nearly whole ancient ceramic vessels from the Four Corners region. These extraordinary objects represent a little-used, but impressive, resource for future exhibits, research, and education.

Most objects in the ceramic collections were made by ancient Puebloan peoples who occupied the Four Corners region from 700 to 3,500 years ago. The collection includes examples of black-on-white, polychrome, plain gray, corrugated, and red-on-black finishes from areas as exotic as Mexico and as familiar as Mesa Verde. Because much of the collection was not previously cataloged, we have gained new insights into the collection and its 125-year history.

Project staff reviewed the designs and construction methods used in each vessel, then placed the vessel into a ware, style and time category. They digitally photographed each object, linking the image with updated documentation in the museum’s computer database. Now that the ancient ceramic collections are cataloged, photographed, digitized, and better organized, they will be more accessible to tribes, researchers, and the general public and can be incorporated into a larger framework to help us better understand ceramic technology in the Southwest. Such important collections work would not have been possible without the significant efforts of committed staff, interns, and volunteers; neither would it have been possible without the support of the State Historical Fund. The department of material culture sincerely thanks you all.

By Josette Van Der Koogh, Archaeology Project Coordinator