ATS, I need your help to ID a piece of ancient, ancient pottery from the americas,

A good friend of mind has owned a native american vase that he assumed was made by plains indians since 1990, he purchased from an indian woman in montana and she said that she had it for over 50 years, and had previously bought it from another old plains indian who had claimed it was very old. This vase was recently shown to a blackfoot indian, and he said there are certain things about it that make it impossible to be of any modern native american origin, and suggested that it is possibly anasazi, which research has shown it most likely isnt. Hopi, zuni, and navajo indians have all said it must be meso-american or south american in origin.

Pictures were sent to the the smithsonian and experts also determined that it was most likely mexican. The pictures were forwarded to experts in mexico, but we were told to expect a few weeks before receiving a reply.

After doing research I believe it may be Mogollon/mimbres, which were indians living to the south of the anasazi, or mayan or aztec in nature. It is made of shiny clay, with three small legs, something common of mexican tribes. Also it has two fish on it, which is why i believe it maybe mimbres. there is no paint, but the fish are inlayed with a different kind of clay. It was never actually fired but the outside was hardened by setting it next to a fire, leaving a small burn mark. So it was never intended to hold water. It was likely used to hold seeds.

Here are the pictures, I'm requesting that members of ATS do the best research they can into finding something similar and helping ID the artifact. and then hopefully answer the question, "How did it get in the hands of a plains indian?"


i295.photobucket.com...

i295.photobucket.com...

i295.photobucket.com...

[edit on 4-4-2008 by SageOfWisdom]


Mod Note: Image Size – Please Review This Link.



[edit on 5-4-2008 by Jbird]

I see the images dont show up completely, right click, go to properties to copy the photobucket link.

Please ATS members help me if you can, This is considered an Out of place Artifact, it would be great if an ATS member could determine its origin before the mexican experts can.

How lovely!

I'll see what I can turn up. I agree that it's of Mexican or Central American origin because of many of the features. Not sure about the glaze, though. (and thanks for putting the ruler in there to show scale... nice touch that really helps.)