Ceramic Field Identification Manual Agua Fria National Monument Project

BACKGROUND

PERIOD: Pueblo III to Pueblo IV

DATES: 1260 to 1350

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Description of Winslow Orange Ware

Construction: Coil constucted.

Thinning: scraped on inside and outside.

Firing: Oxidized atmosphere.

Core color: Varies; pinkish, tan, orange, buff or gray, or brick-red.

Temper: Varies, though usually includes multi-lithic sand, (yellow) sherd fragments, basalt, carbonate. Temper is generally poorly sorted.

Core color: Varies; pinkish, tan, orange, buff or gray, or brick-red.

Carbon Streaks: Uncommon

Vessel Walls: Medium strong to strong, porous, slightly friable to friable

Texture core: Medium to fine

Fracture: Crumbling (likely due to porosity, low firing temperature, and frequent misfirings)

Surface finish: Gritty and pitted, surfaces are minutely crazed in some types; vessels are often compacted and polished on either both surfaces (bowls), or exterior surfaces (jars); the Chavez Pass Series is coated with a thin watery slip on both surface faces.

Surface color: Orange to tan, sometimes pinkish to light brick-red; surface color and core color are often similar.
Forms: Bowls and jars; vessel walls are usually fairly uniform in thickness.

Wall thickness (bowls): 3.5 to 7.1 mm; averaging 5.5 mm.

Wall thickness (jars): 3.4 to 7.1 mm; averaging 5.5 mm.

Decoration: Both undecorated and painted.

Paint: Black (usually weak and flat), white (usually somewhat fugitive); paint is sometimes fairly thick and chalkey.

Pigments: Black to brown, consisting of manganese, iron, carbon, and copper (occasionally); white, consisting of kaolin.
Designs: The most common design elements are thick black lines sectioning the design field and separated by blank spaces from areas bounded by thin lines and filled with hatchure and corbelling. Triangles, serrate lines, interlocking keys, interlocking hatched and solid spirals, terrace and half-terraced shapes are common.

Range: Concentrated around the Little Colorado River drainage, near Winslow, Arizona and the Petrified Forest area. Winslow Orange Ware is present at the Hopi Mesas, Chavez Pass, the Verde Valley, and the Phoenix Basin as the result of trade (or migration).

Comparison: Similar to Jeddito Yellow Ware except for color and texture. Winslow Orange Ware appears to share a stylistic tradition with Bidahochi Polychrome, Awatovi Black on yellow, early Fourmile Polychrome, Pinto-Gila Polychrome, and some Zuni Glaze Wares (Lyons 2001 and Lyons and Hays-Gilpin 2001). Jeddito Yellow Ware has a strong wall and shattering fracture, and clear yellow colors in contrast to Winslow Orange Ware's softer, muddier orange to tan colors

Cultural Associations: Western Pueblo

Remarks: Colton (1956) defined two series within Winslow Orange Ware based on differences in the color of pastes and presence/absence of slip. Types within Winslow Series have tan, buff, yellow, or orange pastes, and types within the Homol’ovi Series have dark pastes. They also defined some types with thin red slip. Colton and Hargrave apparently did not always apply these criteria consistently. Hays-Gilpin et al. (1996) proposed a three-series system for classifying the Winslow Orange Ware types. Their classification split the Winslow series in a slipped series (Chavez Pass series) and unslipped series (Winslow). They proposed limiting the Black Axe Series to types with dark, brick red paste. Types from each series are listed below.

Authored by: Travis Ellison, Saul Hedquist, and Erick M. Laurila