Ceramic: Untempered mudware, bowl, AMNH 29.0/6754

Untempered mudware, miniature bowl, AMNH Accession 29.0, Catalog #6754. Analyzed by Lori Reed 2004. Temper is fine quartz sand in a silty low fired paste. Bowl is 100% complete, with only a small nick in the rim. Measurements: 8.7 cm orifice diameter, 5.4 cm height. Image AMNH 29.0/6754 A: exterior view showing shape of bowl. Image AMNH 29.0/6754 B: interior view showing polished surface. Recovered from Earl Morris excavation of Kiva D, Aztec West Ruin. Morris describes Kiva D as having “been burned before its original contents were removed….Quantities of charcoal covered the floor. The adobe from the roof was fused in places and in others burned to the consistency of brick. The space above was filled by fallen masonry” (Earl Morris 1916-1923 unpublished “Kiva Notes”; on file at Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico). Morris (1924:212) also indicates that the bodies of four individuals were in the kiva at the time of burning. “Pottery vessels and other objects were scattered about on the floor and on the banquettes as if left where convenience dictated by those accustomed to frequent the chamber” (Morris 1924:212). Reference: 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.