Pilling Figurines: Difference between revisions
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Pitblado, along with a team of experts, analyzed the figurine and compared it to the 10 Pilling Figurines to ensure that it was not a replicate or unrelated. They were able to match trace elements on the figurine to the other 10 and also discovered that they were all created using clay from the same source. These results led the team to confirm that the figurine sent to them via mail was in fact the missing figurine. |
Pitblado, along with a team of experts, analyzed the figurine and compared it to the 10 Pilling Figurines to ensure that it was not a replicate or unrelated. They were able to match trace elements on the figurine to the other 10 and also discovered that they were all created using clay from the same source. These results led the team to confirm that the figurine sent to them via mail was in fact the missing figurine. |
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All eleven figurines can now be viewed at the Utah State University-Eastern Prehistoric Museum. |
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Revision as of 05:07, 21 November 2013
The Pilling Figurines are a set of eleven clay figurines made by the Fremont culture. They were discovered in 1950 by Clarence Pilling, a rancher, under a rock overhang in a side canyon of Range Creek, Utah.[1] The figurines are believed to have been created around 1000 years ago.
The Pilling Figurines are 4 to 6 inches in height. They are constructed of unbaked clay and show evidence of red, buff, and black paint. These markings and colors have offered insight and revealed how ancient Fremont people dressed. Each is distinctive and appears to have been made in matching male and female pairs leaving an unmatched female figurine. They are considered to be among the most important pieces of ancient portable art that have been discovered in the Southwest.[2]
Figurine Number 2
After being discovered by Pilling in 1950, the 11 figurines went into the possession of the USU Eastern Prehistoric Museum in Price. In the 1960's, while touring the Utah, one of the figurines, Number 2, disappeared. The clay object remained missing until November 2011 when Utah State University anthropologist Bonnie Pitblado received an anonymous package in the mail. Inside was a clay figurine, strikingly similar in appearance to the Pilling Figurines of the Fremont Culture. Along with the figurine was a note that read:
"Sometime between 1978 and 1982 I came into possession of this piece by way of a vagabond acquaintance. He had told of ‘acquiring’ it near Vernal, Utah. I have great interest and respect for this continent's native culture and have always hoped to somehow return this to wherever it had come from. … I am very excited at the prospect of it being returned to its proper place.” [3]
Pitblado, along with a team of experts, analyzed the figurine and compared it to the 10 Pilling Figurines to ensure that it was not a replicate or unrelated. They were able to match trace elements on the figurine to the other 10 and also discovered that they were all created using clay from the same source. These results led the team to confirm that the figurine sent to them via mail was in fact the missing figurine.
All eleven figurines can now be viewed at the Utah State University-Eastern Prehistoric Museum.
References
- ^ Powell, Allan Kent (2003). The Utah Guide, p. 328. Fulcrum Publishing.
- ^ http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53879624-78/figurine-pitblado-pilling-figurines.html.csp
- ^ http://www.ksl.com/?sid=20117209
External links
- Smithsonian, March 2006, "Secrets of the Range Creek Ranch", pp. 68–75.
- CEU Prehistoric Museum Hall of Archaeology
- CEU Prehistoric Museum Hall of Archaeology Pilling Figurines Handout
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