First posted by C. Dean Wilson 2012

Mancos Black-on-white was named by Gladwin (1934) and first described by Martin(1936). This type encompasses a very wide range of design styles and technological variability as compared to many other later Pueblo II types (Abel 1955; Breternitz et al 1974; Hayes 1964; Hayes and Lancaster 1974; Oppelt 1992; Reed 1958; Rohn 1977; Wilson and Blinman 1995). For example, Mancos Black-on-white subsumes design styles used to define the Cibola tradition types Gallup Black-on-white, Chaco Black-on-white, Escavada Black-on white and Puerco Black-on-white; the Chuska tradition types Chuska Black-on-white, Toadalena Black-on-white, Burnham Black on white; the Kayenta tradition types Black Mesa Black-on-white, Sosi Black-on-white, Dogoszhi Black-on-white, and the Rio Grande type Kwahe’e Black on white. Differences in the number of Pueblo II types distinguished in the different Anasazi regions is a reflection more of archaeological classification conventions than of stylistic variability in the Northern San Juan region. Mancos Black on-white was first produced during the last decades of the tenth century and is the dominant white ware type in assemblages dating from A.D. 1000 through about A.D. 1150 (Wilson and Blinman 1995). After A.D. 1150, McElmo Black-on-white replaces Mancos Black on white.

The wide technological variability noted for pottery assigned to this type includes both well-polished and unpolished surfaces, and slipped vessels are common. Rims are sub-rounded and tapered and can be solidly painted or unpainted. A wide variety of forms is represented including bowls, jars, ollas, and dippers. Designs are executed in mineral pigment throughout the region during most periods, although organic paint is sometimes found on examples of late Pueblo II to Pueblo III transitional forms. These organic painted examples were used as a basis for the definition of Wetherill Black-on-white which is now subsumed under Mancos Black-on-white. Design styles are simple and boldly executed. Single motifs are often presented in all-over or banded layout. Simple combinations of different design elements may also be represented. The design element most commonly associated with Mancos Black-on-white is a series of rectilinear bands filled with diagonal, squiggle, straight, or cross hachure. Others motifs noted for this type include dots, opposing triangles, radiating triangles, step triangles, checkered triangles, checkered squares, parallel lines, lines forming concentric patterns, and scrolls.

References:
Abel, Leland J.
1955 San Juan Red Ware, Mesa Verde Gray Ware, Mesa Verde White Ware and San Juan White Ware, Pottery Types of the Southwest: Wares 5A, 10A, 10B, 12A. Museum of Northern Arizona Ceramic Series 3B, Flagstaff.

Breternitz, David A., Arthur H. Rohn, Jr., and Elizabeth A. Morris
1974 Prehistoric Ceramics of the Mesa Verde Region. Museum of Northern Arizona Ceramic Series 5, Flagstaff.

Gladwin, Harold, S.
1934 A Method for the Designation of Cultures and Their Variants. Medallion Papers No. 15, Globe.

Hayes, Alden C.
1964 The Archaeological Survey of Wetherill Mesa, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. In Archaeological Research Series 7A. National Park Service, Washington.

Hayes, Alden C., and James A. Lancaster
1975 Badger House Community. Publications in Archeology 7E, Wetherill Mesa Studies. U.S. Depart¬ment of the Interior, National Park Service, Washington, D.C.

Martin, Paul S.
1936 Lowry Ruin in Southwestern Colorado. Field Museum of Natural History Anthropological Series 23 (1). Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.

Oppelt, Norman T.
1992 Earth Water Fire: The Prehistoric Pottery of Mesa Verde. Johnson Books, Boulder.

Reed, Erik K.
1958 Excavation in Mancos Canyon, Colorado. University of Utah Anthropological Papers, No. 35. Salt Lake City.

Rohn, Arthur H.
1977 Cultural Change and Continuity on Chapin Mesa. Regents Press, Lawrence.

Wilson, C. Dean, and Eric Blinman
1995 Ceramic Types of the Mesa Verde Region. In Archaeological Pottery of Colorado: Ceramic Clues to the Prehistoric and Protohistoric Lives of the State's Native Peoples, edited by R.H. Brunswig, B. Bradley, and S.M. Chandler, pp. 33-88, Colorado Council of Archaeologists Occasional Papers 2, Denver.

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Mancos Black-on-white bowl