Ceramic: McElmo Black-on-white, olla, AZRU1-906

McElmo Black-on-white, olla, complete with plaster reconstruction. Accession AZRU-00001 Catalog 906, Morris FS 4652. Analyzed by Lori Reed 2011. Sherd and granular igneous temper indicating local production. Two horizontal strap handles placed on lower body (one is broken). Measurements: 7.1 cm diameter (most of rim is plaster material restoration), 30 cm height. Image AZRU1-906A: exterior view showing handle (other one is missing). Image AZRU1-906B: exterior view showing intact handle (partially reconstructed with plaster material). Image AZRU1-906C: view showing repair hole and recessed base. Recovered from Earl Morris' excavation of Room 55 Aztec West Ruin. Olla was beneath floor of Room 55. Earl Morris’ description of Room 55 at the time of excavation is as follows. “The floor of Room 55 is at the last-used court level, that is, 3 feet higher than that of Room 59 which adjoins it on the east. A fire pit 1 foot 7 inches in diameter and 5 inches deep was at the center of the floor, and although there were no artifacts upon the latter, a large black-on-white olla (Field No. 4652) was buried beneath the southeast corner. A test pit sunk where this pot was found revealed several, hard-packed yard levels and none but Chaco sherds. In the south wall, 1 foot 3 inches from its east end, there remains the bottom of a doorway…. Slightly east of the center of the north wall is a second 2-foot door….” (Morris 1928: 294-295) Reference: Earl Morris, 1928, Notes on Excavations in the Aztec Ruin, Volume XXVI, Part V, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, New York.