Nevadans for Cultural Preservation

April 2021

Kara Jones, Archaeologist and Graduate Student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Ceramics in the Mojave Desert are rare, but they do occur. The most common form of Mojave ceramics are those similar to Owens Valley Brownware and other coil and scrape plainware ceramic vessels. However, Tizon Brownware and Lower Colorado Buffware represent two recent and informative ceramic styles in the desert. These two types are made through paddle and anvil manufacture rather than coil and scrape. Investigations at Lewis Holes in 1968 and later in 2007 revealed a habitation site with 105 collected Lower Colorado Buffware ceramic sherds. A handful of these sherds make up at least one vessel with large preserved rim fragments, likely used for cooking. In this presentation Kara will contextualize the ceramics of Lewis Holes, in Nevada just outside the California border, within the greater ceramic framework of the Mojave Desert as well as interpreting the use of these ceramics and their cultural meaning.

To watch a video recording of this Zoom Webinar click here.