Ceramic: Escavada Black-on-white, bowl, AZRU8-2091

Summary

Escavada Black-on-white, bowl, Accession AZRU-00008 Catalog #2091. Morris FS 2477. Analyzed by Lori Reed 2011. Temper is sand and sherd suggesting manufacture in the Chaco Cibola region. Vessel is 90% restored with unknown adhesive and 10% unknown plaster reconstruction. Measurements: 16 cm diameter, 7.9 cm height. Image AZRU8-2091 A: view of interior showing painted design (note on right side of rim a broken section that may have been the attachment for an applique or appendage). Image AZRU8-2091 B: closeup of interior painted design. Image AZRU8-2091 C: closeup of interior showing washy slip. Image AZRU8-2091 D: exterior base view. Image AZRU8-2091 E: exterior view showing shape of bowl. Image AZRU8-2091 F: exterior view showing shape of bowl. Recovered from Earl Morris excavation of Room 94, Aztec West Ruin. Earl Morris’ description of Room 94 at the time of excavation is as follows. “A thin stratum of ashy earth…. on the floor of Room 94. The ceiling had been held up by three pine logs running north and south; the small poles also were of pine…. In crashing downward, the mass of debris which had collected on the western three-fourths of the ceiling, filled the chamber, except for a space triangular in cross-section, the remaining quarter of the ceiling and the east wall forming the sides and the sloping exposure of the debris…. This debris had been wet and was consolidated into a surprisingly hard and compact mass. Among it were quantities of charcoal representing the second ceiling and probably the third as well…. [Potsherds], mixed with charcoal, continued through a layer 8 inches to 1 foot thick, extending obliquely downward to within 6 inches of the floor at the west line of the door and thence eastward on a level to within 4 feet of the west wall….Eventually the eastern supporting timber broke close to the north wall and swung down and back toward the east wall. The portion of the ceiling which it had held up was mashed down into the space not previously filled. Across the east end of the second floor there had been from 5 to 9 inches of refuse…. There is a recessed door in the center of the north wall….There are ventilators in each end of the north wall, the east one sealed, the other open.” (Morris1928: 349-350). 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.

Keywords

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1110 to 1140 (Late Chacoan)

Calendar Date: 1140 to 1280 (Post-Chacoan)

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Gary Brown

Contributor(s): Anne Grulich; Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, NM

Principal Investigator(s): Lori Reed

Repository(s): Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, NM; American Museum of Natural History, New York City, NY

Notes

General Note: High resolution images of the item are archived and available to researchers through the National Park Service, Aztec Ruins National Monument.

General Note: Publication or use of the image is restricted; permission may be obtained through consultation with American Museum of Natural History and Aztec Ruins National Monument.

Rights & Attribution: Artifact was collected from Aztec West Ruin excavations by Earl Morris between 1916 and 1922. Morris' excavations were sponsored and funded by the American Museum of Natural History, New York.

Source Collections

Original Items: American Museum of Natural History, New York, and NPS, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico

Image: NPS, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico

Related Comparative Collections

Aztec Ruins Collections housed at Hibben Center, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

Aztec Ruins Collections housed at American Museum of Natural History, New York

Aztec Ruins Collections housed at Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico

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