by Mildred Boyd

     An archaeologist’s heart may leap up when he beholds a rainbow in the sky, but an ancient garbage dump, the older the better, produces true ecstasy. He joyfully delves into the detritus of long-vanished cultures, not for treasure (although that is occasionally found), but for old bones, discarded tools and, especially, broken pots. To the expert, the smallest fragment of pottery can speak volumes about the people who made and used it and the ancients were generous in their contributions to the science.
     The tradition of creating useful and ornamental objects from common clay is as old as civilization. Some of the finest pre-Columbian examples come from Tlatilco and date from 1200 BC, but the ceramic arts still flourish, virtually unchanged.
     Tools are often primitive in the extreme. A rough plank or a wide, shallow dish rotating atop a rock or an inverted bowl serve as wheels. Scraps of wet leather, felt or smooth stones help form contours and burnish surfaces. Broken pieces of pottery, gourd segments, old nails or sharp thorns, even fingernails, can be used for impressing designs or piercing patterns in the wet clay while feathers, twigs or fingers serve to apply home-made paints and glazes. Firing is achieved by stacking dried pots above ground or in shallow pits and covering them with mounds of burning wood, dung and maize husks.
     With such simple equipment, modern potters produce an astonishing array of works, some supremely beautiful, others whimsically amusing, a few garishly ugly, to gladden the hearts of future archaeologists. It would be interesting to know what those learned gentlemen will make of them.

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