One of the most outstanding characteristics of the Anasazi is the pottery that they left behind. This pottery has been found all over the Southern Nevada area. It is very distinctive. Some of the potsherds have a thickness of less than 4 mm. This is amazing considering the method used to create these utilitarian works of art. They did not use a potters wheel. Instead they used the 'coil' method.
The coil method consists of first rolling the clay on a flat surface into long strands. Then, starting at the bottom of the pot or bowl, creating a center point and winding the strand around it on the outer edge. As the strand is attached to the center by pressure from the fingers, the strand is attached at increasingly higher angles to the surface it is attached to. Thus shaping the pot or bowl. The strands can be left intact, pinched at uniform intervals or obscured when the pot or bowl is completed. When the strands are left intact or pinched, the result is called corrugated ware. In some pieces, there are even fingerprint marks from the manufacture process.
One of the really distinctive features of Anasazi pottery are the designs which they put on their pots and bowls. These designs are geometric in nature and highly stylized. while often not as complex as the designs of Anasazi in other areas, the local Anasazi still produced an impressive piece of pottery.
Some of the other artifacts which the Anasazi left behind are chipped stone tools. The material used for these tools varied with the type of tool. Quartzite, which is common in the Muddy River valley, was used for large chopping type tools. Arrowheads (which Archeologists like to call 'points'), knives, drills and spear points were usually made from chert, a shiny glass like stone. On occasion obsidian was used for these tools.
Another common artifact associated with the Anasazi is the mano and metate. The metate is a large flat stone. The mano is a smaller, hand sized stone with a flat side. Together these two items were used to grind maize and seeds which the Anasazi ate.
Other artifacts include bone tools and turquoise pendants and beads.
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