Potsherds: An Introduction the Study of Prehistoric Southwestern Ceramics, and Their Use in Historic Reconstruction de Colton, Harold S (1881-1970) - 1953

Flagstaff, Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, 1953 86 pages with figures, tables, bibliography and index. Quarto (10 1/4" x 7") issued in reddish brown cloth with black lettering to spine and cover. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin 25. 1st edition. This work was prepared to tell how worthless fragments from the town dump are studies to contribute to a history when no written record is available. All over the world lie historic and prehistoric sties once the habitation of men and women. Here a housewife when she broke a pottery vessel cast out the fragments on a trash dump along with sweepings from her floor, bones from the stew pot, and ashes from her fire. On these mounds today are scattered thousands of fragments of pottery. In some areas the pottery fragments were beautifully decorated, perhaps once a treasured heirloom broken by a careless child; other are the fragments of cooking or storage pots. Because pottery resists weathering, like objects made of stone, it preserves for the archaeologist the techniques used by the maker. On most sites in the open, not in caves, pottery fragments with stone implements are the only things preserved, for all perishable objects of wood, skin and textiles have rotted away to nothing. Since each tribe of Indians had its own way of doing things, their pottery is of the utmost value to the student of the past as prime indicator of time and culture, the basic material for a history. Condition: Points lightly rubbed. Jacket corners and spine ends chipped, edge wear. with closed tears, fold over edges and hinges rubbed. A very good copy in like jacket.. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good.