Mimbres

Art & Architecture Thesaurus

Mimbres

Refers to a culture and style that was a branch of the classic Mogollon culture and existed along the Mimbres River in the Gila Mountains in what is now southwestern New Mexico, and on nearby stretches of the Mimbres River and the Rio Grande. They flourished from around 1000 CE to around 1150 CE, hunting, using irrigation for agriculture, and living in compact pueblo-like villages of adobe and masonry. They were probably eventually absorbed by the Pueblo peoples to the north or migrated to Mexico. They are noted for distinctive pottery, which was decorated with imaginative black-on-white designs of insects, animals, birds, and geometric lines.