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| Photo copyright Wings, 2014; all rights reserved. |
Do you know what this is?
No? How about from this angle?
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| Photo copyright Wings, 2014; all rights reserved. |
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| Photo copyright Wings, 2014; all rights reserved. |
It's a sherd. From a very old micaceous clay footed pot. The sort of small pot designed to stand in a fire, letting the contents heat from underneath without setting the bottom of the pot directly on the flames. The pot probably had handles, and may have had a lid.
It's also, at a minimum, several hundred years old, and perhaps much, much more.
Wings found it yesterday, outside the west wall of the horses' stalls.
Every now and then, the earth here throws ancient sherds up to the surface for us to find. Sometimes they're traditional Taos Pueblo-style micaceous clay, like this one; sometimes they're the old black-on-white style.
Always, though, they're a reminder that he is inextricably a part of this land — this land where his ancestors, in a direct and unbroken line, have lived and worked and tilled this earth since time immemorial.
Absent a pot to go with it, a 2" sherd doesn't have much value on the collectors' market.
As an essential piece of one's identity, a 2" sherd has value beyond any price.
Copyright Ajijaakwe, 2014; all rights reserved.
in the late sixties, i was swimming behind the costume house of the lost colony - i started unearthing pottery shards from the first colonization attempt at manteo, nc. they carbon dated back to the sixteenth century.
ReplyDeletei still have them and hold them with great awe - they were native american pots from the local indian nations - possibly shared with the colonists.
it is times like these that remind me that WE are only recent visitors to this country - and, that you, aji and wings, have roots here far deeper than my own (back to 1735 and 1737 for both sides of the family).
thank you for sharing this!