Ceramic: Mesa Verde Black-on-white, mug, AZRU1-850

Mesa Verde Black-on-white, mug, Accession AZRU-00001 Catalog #850. Morris FS 3971. CULTURALLY SENSITIVE: NAGPRA ARTIFACT; ACCESS RESTRICTED. Analyzed by Lori Reed 2011. Temper is granular igneous rock suggesting manufacture at Aztec Ruin. Vessel is 90% complete. Measurements: 6.1 cm orifice diameter, 8.5 cm height. Image AZRU1-850 A: top view showing orifice and rim design. Image AZRU1-850 B: base view. Image AZRU1-850 C: side view showing design. Image AZRU1-850 D: side view showing design. Image AZRU1-850 E: side view showing broken handle stubs and repair of mug with pitch. Image AZRU1-850 F: front view showing design. Image AZRU1-850 G: handle side showing design. Recovered from Earl Morris excavation of Room 152(2), Burial 50 Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 152-2at the time of excavation is as follows. “In the southwest corner a bundle of rush stems the raw material for plaited mats, and a coil of basket splints. The ceilings of both the second and third stories had been burned, the latter completely, the former only partially because of the smothering of the flame by the superimposed floor earth after the timbers burned through and fell. In the third story room there had been a quantity of stone objects. The excellence of the polished slabs and of the manos suggests that the room was burned while in use, or if abandoned, that the inhabitants had been unable to remove possessions that under ordinary circumstances would not have been discarded” (Morris 1928:365). 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. For burials see Earl Morris, 1924, Burials in the Aztec Ruin and the Aztec Ruin Annex, Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History Vol. XXVI, Parts III and IV, American Museum of Natural History, New York.