Tall Slender Hopi Pueblo Cylindrical Jar, circa 1920s [SOLD]

Frank Applegate conducted classes on the Hopi mesas in 1922 at the request of the Indian Commission. It is believed that he introduced this shape to the Hopi potters at that time. Many were sold by the Fred Harvey Company at its hotels and gift shops.

The shape does have precedence from prehistoric times. Recent studies of excavated prehistoric sites at Chaco Canyon have revealed specimens of cylindrical jars. Anthropologist Patricia Crown, from the University of New Mexico, and a colleague from the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition, analyzed potsherds and found traces of a compound of cacao. From their research, they have concluded that the cylindrical jars were used to hold chocolate in beverage form. Only a couple hundred complete jars have been found and most of them came from Pueblo Bonito, but many shards that would fit a cylindrical jar shape have been unearthed.

Based on their research, there is a history for pueblo cylindrical jars, but it is still likely that the re-introduction of them at Hopi was not for drinking chocolate beverages but for selling to collectors and tourists.