Through artifacts, some of which are more than 2,000 years old, KU students heard the peoples of ancient Costa Rica talking about their daily lives. Hoopes taught the course last fall and what his students heard, in part, is on exhibit at the KU Museum of Anthropology through Aug. 15. The museum is in Spooner Hall at 14th and Jayhawk Boulevard on KU's Lawrence campus. The exhibit focuses both on the ways these pots were made and on their uses in ancient times. The vessels represent several different time periods, from the first few centuries B.C. to the eve of the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century.
Anthropologists usually gather information about culture by talking to the people who experience it.
Unfortunately, this is not possible with ancient populations that no longer exist. Hoopes trained his students in techniques of ceramic analysis through hands-on interpretation of dozens of pots. His students learned how to replicate ancient pottery techniques by making and firing vessels similar to those used by ancient peoples. Hoopes, who has done research in Costa Rica, worked with KU's anthropology museum to organize the exhibit in honor of the 40th anniversary of student and faculty exchanges between KU and the Universidad de Costa Rica. The exhibit is based on the students' analysis of pottery from Costa Rica in the museum's collections, which include many vessels acquired by KU faculty and alumni over several decades.