Ceramic: McElmo Black-on-white (Early style), bowl, AZRU-00001/1000

McElmo Black-on-white (Early style), bowl, Accession AZRU-00001, Catalog #1000, Morris FS 3791. Analyzed by Lori Reed 2006. Temper is granular igneous rock and sand suggesting bowl was manufactured at Aztec. Bowl is reconstructed with 80% original fragments and 20% unknown paster material. Measurements: 26 cm orifice diameter, 13.5 cm height. Image AZRU1-1000 A: oblique view of exterior showing shape of bowl and tapered rim. Image AZRU1-1000 B: view of interior showing painted design. Image AZRU1-1000 C: view of interior showing painted design. Recovered from Earl Morris excavation of Room 145, Aztec West Ruin. Morris’ description of Room 145 states: “The floor of Room 145 was black from long use. In the center was a fire pit…excavated into clean sand…The lowest stratum of the fill was refuse with artifacts that included a copper bell. The surface of the deposit had been smoothed and an adobe floor laid upon it. In the center thereof was a circular fire pit, slightly smaller than the one directly beneath it, and midway between this one and the northeast corner was another, walled with cobblestones” (Morris 1928:393).
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.