Ceramic: Mesa Verde Black-on-white, kiva jar, AZRU1-899

Mesa Verde Black-on-white, kiva jar, Accession AZRU-00001 Catalog #899. Morris FS 5111. Analyzed by Lori Reed 2011. Temper not examined; not visible on surface. Vessel is 100% complete with about 40% reconstruction with unknown plaster material. Measurements: 11 cm orifice diameter, 23 cm height. Image AZRU1-899 A: side view showing design. Image AZRU1-899 B: view showing orifice and side. Image AZRU1-899 C: view showing painted design on exterior body. Image AZRU1-899 D: oblique view of lower body showing fire cloud and painted design. Image AZRU1-899 E: view showing orifice. Image AZRU1-899 F: view showing orifice. Recovered from Earl Morris excavation of Room 183, upper floor, Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 183 at the time of excavation is as follows. “Conditions as observed in this room reveal the following sequence of events: The fill between the lower and middle floor contained wares made and used by the builders of the ruin. After the earlier use the chamber was remodeled, apparently making of it a rectangular kiva. At least they gave it three of the most essential features of this sort of chamber; a central fireplace, a deflector, and a ventilator at the south side. While the room thus equipped was in use, burials were made in the corners. After a second abandonment during which 2½ feet of debris accumulated in it, it was again re-floored and re-occupied, seemingly for a brief period. Judging from the number and nature of the objects scattered upon the ultimate floor, the final abandonment came at the close of inhabitation of the ruin as a whole” (Morris 1928:403). 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.