Tradition Name: Tusayan (Kayenta)

First posted by C. Dean Wilson 2014

Tusayan or Kayenta tradition types include a range of white, gray, red, and yellow ware forms produced over much of what is today Northeastern Arizona. The region associated with the Tusayan tradition spans north to south from about the Little Colorado River to the San Juan River east to where the Four Corners states join. The western boundary includes areas just to the east of the Colorado River. The eastern boundary runs from about Chinle Creek to the eastern slopes of the Chuska Mountains The area defined here for the Tusayan tradition or region includes fairly diverse area that have sometimes been placed into the Kayenta or Navajo Mountain, Black Mesa, Canyon De Chelley or Chinle, and the Hopi Butte Provinces (Peckham 1990). Pottery sequences associated with this tradition appear to reflect a long continuum of occupation by groups directly ancestral to the Hopi that while well outside New Mexico represent forms that widely distributed during the proto-historic and historic periods.

Related Wares

• Jeddito Yellow Ware
• Polacca Yellow Ware
• Tsegi Orange Ware
• Tusayan Utlity Ware
• Tusayan White Ware