Beloved Things: Interpreting Curated Pottery in Diasporic Contexts.

Historical archaeologists often view curated or heirloom pottery as a frustrating anomaly in the dating of historical-period sites or contexts. Fewer pause to consider why the artifacts were curated in the first place, or what their presence reveals about the people who maintained them. Drawing on a case study of curated micaceous pottery at a Hispanic diaspora site in east-central New Mexico, this article argues that investigation of heirloom pottery can offer insights into the functional, familial, and cultural significance of these beloved things.