Ceramic: McElmo Black-on-white (Early style), bowl, AZRU-00001/1001

McElmo Black-on-white (Early style), bowl, Accession AZRU-00001, Catalog #1001, Morris FS 3792. Analyzed by Lori Reed 2006. Temper is granular igneous rock/sand/shale suggesting bowl was manufactured at Aztec. Bowl is reconstructed with 80% original fragments and 20% unknown paster material. Measurements: 28 cm maximum orifice diameter (warped), 14 cm height. Image AZRU1-1001 A: oblique view of exterior showing shape of bowl, tapered rim, and isolated design below rim. Image AZRU1-1001 B: view of interior showing painted design. Image AZRU1-1001 C: closeup view of interior base showing isolated element. Note: dark colored surface is plaster material reconstruction. Image AZRU1-1001 D: closeup of interior banded design. Note: thin washy white slip typical of Chacoan pottery, but present on McElmo Black-on-white. 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.