Pottery type
Chaco Black-on-White Pottery
Chaco Black-on-White1075 - 1150 A.D.Ancestral Puebloan PotteryKey facts
- Age
- 1075 - 1150 A.D.
- Cultural period
- Ancestral Puebloan Pottery
- Material
- Low-iron clays that fire light gray to buff, tempered with medium quartz sand. Designs are executed with iron-oxide mineral pigments that fire black to dark brown.
Description
Cibola white ware variant with mineral-paint designs on a white to light gray slipped surface. Motifs feature thick framing lines, fine diagonal hachure, stepped and triangular elements, and banded layouts on bowls and jars. It is closely tied to the florescence of Chaco Canyon great houses.
Size
Bowls often 18–30 cm in diameter; jars roughly 25–40 cm tall; some large serving or storage bowls exceed 30 cm. Wall thickness tends to be moderate, reflecting robust vessels used for both serving and display.
Distribution
Produced mainly in the Chaco Canyon area of northwestern New Mexico and distributed throughout the Cibola region and into parts of the Four Corners via exchange.
Mainly found in
Additional information
Chaco Black-on-White is one of the hallmark decorated wares of Chaco Canyon and is crucial for dating Pueblo II components in the wider Cibola region. It is technologically and stylistically close to Gallup and Reserve Black-on-White but with distinctive framing and hachure conventions.