Gila Butte Red-on-Buff Pottery

A transitional buff ware with red-painted designs emphasizing curvilinear scrolls, interlocking scroll chains, spirals, S-motifs, and guilloches. Decoration is often more fluid and organic compared to later, more angular styles. Vessel forms include bowls, jars, and occasional pitchers.

Bowls typically 18–32 cm in diameter; jars 20–35 cm tall; pitchers often 15–25 cm tall.

Primarily in the Gila River Valley, but present throughout central Arizona including the Phoenix Basin and lower Salt River region.

Gila Butte Red-on-Buff is one of the earliest widespread painted buff wares in the Hohokam sequence and is critical for dating early Classic and late Sedentary periods.