HM 97

HM 97:Birds
AD 1000-1250, Mexico

Description: Appraisal96 Ochre on white bowl. Two zoomorphic bird figures. Large piece missing in bottom – most of one bird missing. Piece missing on rim. Line rim design. Donated in 1982 by William P. Palmer III. From the Mimbres culture, the bowls were often found in gravesites. Certain bowls were used as mortuary vessels. These were placed over the head in burials. Their bases were ceremonially “killed” to allow the spirit of the bowl to accompany the deceased’s spirit into the future world.