Ceramics of Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Moche portrait vessel, Musée du quai Branly, ca. 100—700 CE head jug
Moche portrait vessel, Musée du quai Branly, ca. 100—700 CE, 16 x 29 x 22 cm
Jane Osti of the Cherokee Nation, with her award-winning pottery, in 2006
Jane Osti (Cherokee Nation), with her award-winning pottery, 2006

Ceramics of Indigenous peoples of the Americas is an art form with at least a 7500-year history in the Americas.[1] Pottery is fired ceramics with clay as a component. Ceramics are used for utilitarian cooking vessels, serving and storage vessels, pipes, funerary urns, censers, musical instruments, ceremonial items, masks, toys, sculptures, and a myriad of other art forms.

Due to their resilience, ceramics have been key to learning more about pre-Columbian Indigenous cultures.

  1. ^ Silverman & Isbell 2008, p. 365.