Pueblo Glaze-painted Ware

Glaze-painted pottery in the American Southwest is the only pre-European glaze technology in the new world. Ancestral Pueblo peoples began to make glaze paints in the early 14th century and continued to make them until the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. After the revolt, the ingredients for glaze paint recipes were no longer available and the recipes were eventually forgotten. The Pueblo Glaze Ware Project explores the spread of early glaze technology throughout the Pueblo world.

Dr. Suzanne Eckert, pictured below, served as an editor (along with Dr. Judith Habicht-Mauche, professor at U.C. Santa Cruz, and Dr. Deborah Huntley, research associate at Denver Museum of Nature and Science and Archaeology Southwest) for the book "The Social Life of Pots" (2006, University of Arizona Press), which brought together the leading researchers on the topic to synthesize the current understanding of the technology and to identify gaps in our knowledge.

These gaps include limited comparable studies on  the earliest glaze-painted types across regions as well as limited archaeological research in the Rio Abajo area focused on glaze ware technology. To address the gaps, Dr. Eckert is doing field research in the Rio Abajo and analyzing museum collections from sites from multiple regions where glaze-painted pottery types are found. She is especially interested in sites that may have been gateways for the introduction of immigrants, new ceremonial practices, and glaze-painted pottery technology into the Rio Grande area. This project is long term, and integrates pioneering research with undergraduate and graduate student involvement.

Suzanne L. Eckert, Ph.D.
Head of Collections
Arizona State Museum / University of Arizona
P.O. Box 210026
Tucson, AZ  85721-0026
520-626-0253
See Dr. Eckert's Profile