How Pottery Connects Communities. Ancient History WC: Curacao #ancienthistory

How do we understand the interaction between different communities in a time before written sources? Pottery offers a fab way to understand the movement of goods and peoples.

This example from Curacao gives an insight into the connection between small island communities and the mainland.

I’ll be honest, I found Curacao quite tricky as part of my ancient world cup series – just because so much history is dominated by written traditions relating to European colonisation, and I’m trying really hard to focus on time periods that genuinely reflect the ancient world!

Then I had the idea to look at pre-colonial pottery, which introduced me to the Dabajuroid series and that got me thinking about the connections between different communities around the Caribbean.

The next challenge was finding images that weren’t copyrighted – so, that’s why there’s only one image here!
So, a bit of a challenge, but an enjoyable one! The thing I found most helpful in navigating this pottery was C.J. Drury, ‘Studies on the Archaeology of the Netherlands Antilles: I. Notes on the Pottery of Aruba, Curacao and Bonnaire’, Nieuwe West-Indische Gids / New West Indian Guide, 40ste Jaarg (1960-1961), 81-102.

Photo source: https://www.curacaohistory.com/first-painted-ceramics-in-curacao

Видео How Pottery Connects Communities. Ancient History WC: Curacao #ancienthistory канала Stephen Harrison History