This indigenous design is being returned after a century away

Get the Full StoryThe pottery, by New Mexico s Tewa people, is part of the National Museum of the American Indian. Now, it s being brought back to the region for the first time.

The Jemez Mountains are a rust-colored cluster of volcanic peaks in New Mexico. Across centuries, they ve spewed hot ash onto the land below the perfect material to be combined with wet, natural clay. This sediment-based concoction has been used by the region s six native Tewa communities the Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara, Tesuque, and Namb to make pottery used for everything from grain storage to water transport. In the early 20th century, collector George Gustav Heye amassed the largest private collection of Native American artifacts in the world, including many from the Jemez Mountains. His work ultimately became the Smithsonian s National Museum of the American Indian; some 1 million indigenous items are housed in its collection.Read Full Story

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