Ceramic: Mesa Verde Black-on-white, bowl, AZRU1-891

Mesa Verde Black-on-white, bowl, Accession AZRU-00001 Catalog #891. Morris FS 3546. CULTURALLY SENSITIVE: NAGPRA ARTIFACT; ACCESS RESTRICTED. Analyzed by Lori Reed 2011. Temper is granular igneous rock suggesting manufacture at Aztec. Vessel is 98% restored with unknown adhesive. Measurements: 17.5 cm diameter, 7.6 cm height. Image AZRU1-891 A: interior view showing design. Image AZRU1-891 B: interior view showing design. Image AZRU1-891 C: view of exterior base. Image AZRU1-891 D: exterior view showing macaw motifs. Image AZRU1-891 E: exterior view showing macaw motifs. Recovered from Earl Morris excavation of Room 143, Burial 35, Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 143 at the time of excavation is as follows. “….Room 143 was empty except for a 1 foot 8 inch to 2 foot layer of Mesa Verde refuse covered with enough washed earth and rat nests to bring the depth of the fill to an average of 3 feet. …..Burial No. 35 which was in the northeast corner. The ceiling is in excellent condition. There are two pairs of cedar supports and small poles of cottonwood, the latter spaced in threes, extending the full length of the room from north to south. A jagged hole, 2 feet wide and 4 feet high, had been torn out of the east wall beginning 3 feet 10 inches from the south end, and 1 foot 7 inches from the floor. The interior was roughly plastered with adobe and subsequently smoked black. Built up beneath it, like a step or pedestal, is a block of masonry, 1 foot 5 inches long, 1 foot 2 inches wide, and 10 inches high. The dimensions of the door at the middle of the north wall are: width, 2 feet 5 inches; height, 4 feet 3 inches; sill height, 2 feet. There are no ventilators in this room. (Morris 1928: 368-369) 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. See Burial Description in 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.