A brief history of the Mimbres Culture

The state of New Mexico has been home to quite a few prehistoric cultural groups. Recognized as most unique of all for its realistic imagery on pottery, is that of the small Mogollon cultural group known as the Mimbres or Mimbreno. Located in the southwest Gila mountain area along the Mimbres River Valley, their story began as early as 200 A.D. and climaxed late in the 12^th century. All archeological evidence and compilations of studies by renowned persons in the field of Mimbres research such as J. Walter Fewkes, Burton and Hattie Cosgrove, to name a few, offer evidence of a peaceful creative people living in harmony with their surroundings. From hunter gatherers in pit houses to cultivators of field crops with organized villages, these people of the Mimbres developed socially and spiritually as is evidenced by the unique imagery on their pottery. Their detailed depictions and use of human and animal figures painted black on white around the inside of their bowls is most unique.

While pottery has always been a burial item of all prehistoric cultures, the Mimbres seemed to specialize in it. Often used in the burials, the bowls were punctured in the bottom with a "kill" or "spirit hole", then placed over the head of the deceased. Although there was contact and some trade between the Mimbres and others of the Mogollon, Anasazi and Hohokam cultures, the Mimbres people maintained their distinct styles of designs aside from those of the others. Soon after the first millennium came to a close, all the southwest cultures seemed to suffer a rapid decline as did the people of the Rio Mimbres. Their large villages, with their beautiful pottery buried beneath, were abandoned and forgotten long before the Spanish explorers came into the area. Today, the very limited pottery of the prehistoric Mimbres people is highly coveted by museums around the world.