Pottery type
Mesa Verde Red Ware
Mesa Verde Red Ware750 - 1200 A.D.Ancestral Puebloan PotteryKey facts
- Age
- 750 - 1200 A.D.
- Cultural period
- Ancestral Puebloan Pottery
- Material
- Iron-rich clays that fire to orange or brown, with sand temper. Surfaces often carry a thin red slip; painted elements use thicker red iron-oxide paint.
Description
Red-slipped ware with painted red or dark designs over an orange to brown body. Forms parallel the local white wares—bowls, seed jars, and jars—but surfaces are dominated by warm red tones rather than white. Designs include simple bands, triangles, and rectilinear motifs.
Size
Bowls generally 15–28 cm in diameter; jars 20–35 cm tall; seed jars smaller at 10–20 cm in diameter.
Distribution
Concentrated in the Four Corners region—southeastern Utah, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, and northeastern Arizona—often co-occurring with early San Juan Red Ware and later Tsegi Orange Ware.
Mainly found in
Additional information
Mesa Verde red wares are less common than the black-on-white tradition but are important as part of the broader San Juan and later Tsegi/White Mountain red ware technological sequence. They occur mainly in domestic contexts.