There is a source near Picuris Pueblo and another near Nambe Pueblo that are still used by modern Pueblo potters.  These clays include the mica in their matrices.  I will be going in a couple of weeks with a potter from Santa Clara Pueblo to collect some for potmaking.

--- On Thu, 7/2/09, Allen Dart <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: Allen Dart <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Mica Temper?
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Thursday, July 2, 2009, 11:22 AM
> Jeff,
> 
> Thanks for the clarification re NM micaceous pottery. My
> "enthusiastic"
> 500 year manufacturing range for it was based on a
> statement in an SAR
> Press online blurb about Duane Anderson's "All that
> Glitters" book (which
> I don't have in my library).
> 
> 
> Allen Dart, RPA, Executive Director
> Old Pueblo Archaeology Center
> PO Box 40577
> Tucson AZ  85717-0577   USA
>     520-798-1201 office, 520-798-1966 fax
>     Email: [log in to unmask]
>     URL: www.oldpueblo.org
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> On Thu, July 2, 2009 6:38 am, Boyer, Jeffrey, DCA wrote:
> > Allen is correct in that historic Pueblo and Jicarilla
> Apache Indians have
> > and continue to make micaceous pottery. His time-frame
> is a little
> > enthusiastic, though, and confuses late prehistoric
> micaceous pottery,
> > particularly Sapawe Micaceous made by the northern
> Tewa Pueblos, with the
> > historic types. There appears to be a break after
> Sapawe Micaceous, which
> > dates to the late Classic period (ca. AD 1450-maybe
> 1600). The Jicarilla
> > Apache started paddle and anvil micaceous pottery
> manufacture in the early
> > 18th century while living along the eastern flanks of
> the Sangre de Cristo
> > Mountains (the Rockies in New Mexico). They passed it
> along to the
> > Pueblos, primarily Taos and Picuris Pueblos (northern
> Tiwas), as the
> > Apaches were pushed into and over the mountains by
> Comanches who were
> > expanding onto the Southern Plains in the 18th
> century. Taos and Picuris
> > gave up making typical Rio Grande grayware (regional
> utility ware) and
> > went entirely to micaceous pottery, for which they
> became, and remain,
> > famous. Micaceous pottery manufacture also returned to
> some northern Tewa
> > communities, particularly Ohkay Owinge (formerly San
> Juan Pueblo),
> > probably -- in my opinion -- from the Jicarilla Apache
> as they were pushed
> > increasingly westward, but it did not have the
> prominence that it had
> > among the Apache or Taos and Picuris Pueblos.
> > There are, in northern New Mexico, both micaceous
> types and
> > micaceous-slipped types. Until his death, Herbert Dick
> was the dean of
> > micaceous pottery, having defined and re-defined types
> over the course of
> > a long career. I suggest that the researchers contact
> Dean Wilson at
> > [log in to unmask]
> and Sunday Eiselt at [log in to unmask]
> for
> > details, descriptions, and chronologies.
> > Buena suerte,
> > Jeff
> >
> > Jeffrey L. Boyer, RPA
> > Project Director
> > Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New
> Mexico
> > mail: P.O. Box 2087, Santa Fe, New Mexico  87504
> > physical: 407 Galisteo Street, Suite B-100, Santa Fe,
> New Mexico  87501
> > tel: 505.827.6387         
> fax: 505.827.3904
> > e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> > The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure
> for curiosity. --Ellen
> > Parr
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> >
> > From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY on behalf of Allen Dart
> > Sent: Wed 7/1/2009 10:58 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Mica Temper?
> >
> >
> >
> > Jicarilla Apache and Pueblo Indians (especially Taos
> and Picuris Pueblos)
> > of the northern Rio Grande region have been making
> micaceous pottery for
> > at least five hundred years. Many examples have a high
> golden sheen on the
> > surface.
> >
> > I've heard that a good source on northern New Mexico
> micaceous pottery is
> > "All that Glitters: : The Emergence of Native American
> Micaceous Art
> > Pottery in Northern New Mexico" by Duane Anderson
> (1999, SAR Press, Santa
> > Fe). Anderson is an anthropologist specializing in
> precontact and historic
> > period cultures of the American Southwest and
> Midwest.
> >
> > Do a Google web and/or images search for these
> strings:
> >
> > new mexico taos micaceous pottery
> >
> > duane anderson all glitters
> >
> >
> > Allen Dart, RPA, Executive Director
> > Old Pueblo Archaeology Center
> > PO Box 40577
> > Tucson AZ  85717-0577   USA
> >     520-798-1201 office,
> 520-798-1966 fax
> >     Email: [log in to unmask]
> >     URL: www.oldpueblo.org
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Wed, July 1, 2009 6:43 am, Megan Springate wrote:
> >> Forwarded from the Ceramics-L list; I thought
> perhaps someone here might
> > have some thoughts. Please include Christian Gates on
> your reply
> > ([log in to unmask])
> >>
> >> --Megan Springate
> >>
> >> ---------------------------- Original Message
> > ----------------------------
> >> Subject: Mica Temper
> >> From:    "Christian Gates" <[log in to unmask]>
> >> Date:    Wed, July 1, 2009 9:26 am
> >> To:      [log in to unmask]
> >>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> Some colleagues from Montreal have found an
> assemblage of what seems to
> > be
> >> Native American ceramics heavily tempered with
> mica: mica fragments are
> > large, numerous and nearly as important as the clay
> itself. The pottery
> > fragments are very hard and they break more like
> European ceramics than
> > Native American ceramics. The context is a French
> settlement from the
> > XVIIth Century.
> >>
> >> Is anyone familiar with such pottery? Can anyone
> provide me with similar
> > examples of Native American or European ceramics
> heavily tempered with
> > mica?
> >>
> >> Thank you
> >>
> >> Christian Gates St-Pierre
> >> Archaeologist, PhD
> >> Ethnoscop inc.
> >> Montreal, Quebec, Canada
> >>
> >>
> >>       Découvrez les
> photos les plus intéressantes du jour.
> >> http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
> >>
> >
> >
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