Artifact of the Week: Kumeyaay Olla
Pottery was a valuable asset for people of the past. An olla is a ceramic jar, often unglazed, used for cooking, storage of water or dry foods, or for other purposes. They were watertight and rodent proof. Hot rocks were…
Artifact of the Week: Sherd with Basket Impression
The sherd above features cord marking, a surface decoration which involves pressing vegetal cordage or basketry into damp pottery. Since the archaeological record of San Diego County rarely includes preserved textiles, these impressions are an important source of information about…
Artifact of the Week: Bowl
Pottery is the first synthetic material that humans made. Essentially artificial stone, pottery is a mixture of clay, water, and temper, transformed by the application of heat. Pottery first appears in the archaeological record of San Diego about 1,000 years…
From Inside the Vaults: Collections Management
From Inside the Vaults is a monthly blog that gives insight into best practices for collections stewardship, curation, and archaeological collecting institutions. So what is a Collections Manager, anyway? Simply put, a Collections Manager’s main role is to monitor and…
