Ancestral Pueblo: Greater Upper Rio Grande ValleyNorthern Rio GrandeGreater Tewa Basin (Northern Tewa)Northern Rio Grande Gray WareNorthern Rio Grande Indented Corrugated

Type Name: Northern Rio Grande Indented Corrugated

Period: 950 A.D. - 1300 A.D.
Culture: Ancestral Pueblo: Greater Upper Rio Grande Valley
Branch: Northern Rio Grande
Tradition: Greater Tewa Basin (Northern Tewa)
Ware: Northern Rio Grande Gray Ware


First posted by C. Dean Wilson 2012

Indented Corrugated as described for the Northern Rio Grande region includes gray ware sherds with narrow coils, regularly spaced indentations, and moderate to high contrast between coils (Wilson 2008; 2010; 2012). Examples assigned to this category usually exhibit corrugations with high relief. This represents the dominant corrugated type during the Late Developmental and very early part of the Coalition period (McNutt 1969; Wilson 2008; 2010; 2013). The overall forms and textures tend to be very similar to those noted Pueblo II and Pueblo III gray ware forms produced in various regions in regions of the Colorado Plateau to the west. Corrugated gray ware vessels with more pronounced relief between coils are most common in assemblages dating to the Late Developmental period, and have sometimes been referred to as exuberant corrugated.

Also indicative of very early forms of corrugated is pottery assigned to Neck Corrugated based on indented corrugations sometimes in combination with coils limited to the neck area while exterior surfaces on the lower portions of vessels are smoothed. An example of a vessel exhibiting this combination of characteristics is illustrated under the provisional name Pojoaque Corrugated (Peckham 1992).

Pottery exhibiting deep corrugations was also produced during the late Coalition and early Classic period and includes examples classified by Mera (1935) as Cordova Micaceous Ribbed. This refers to gray wares that commonly exhibit brownish pastes and micaceous pastes that are sometimes associated with Wiyo Black-on-white.

References:
Mera, H. P.
1935 Ceramic Clues to the Prehistory of North Central New Mexico. Laboratory of Anthropology Technical Series Bulletin No. 8, Santa Fe.

McNutt, Charles H.
1969 Early Puebloan Occupations at Tesuque By-Pass and in the Upper Rio Grande Valley. Anthropological Paper No. 40. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Peckham, Stewart
1992 From This Earth: The Ancient Art of Pueblo Pottery. Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe.

Wilson, C. Dean

2008 Ceramic Analysis for the Land Conveyance and Transfer Project, Los Alamos National Laboratory. In The Land Conveyance and Transfer Data Recovery Project: 7,000 Years of Land Use on the Pajarito Plateau, Vol. 3: Artifact and Sample Analysis, edited by Bradley J. Vierra and Kari M. Schmidt, pp. 125–256. Cultural Resource Report No. 273. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos.

2010 Pena Blanca Ceramics. In Excavations Along NM 22: Agricultural Adaptation from ad 500 to 1900 in the Northern Santo Domingo Basin, Sandoval County, New Mexico, compiled by S. L. Post and R. C. Chapman, pp. 13–144. Archaeology Notes, 385. Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe.

2013 Prehistoric Pottery from Pojoaque Corridor Project Sites. In Land Use, Settlement, and Community in the Southern Tewa Basin, Vol. 3: The Prehistoric Sites and Site Components, edited by J. Boyer and J. Moore. Archaeology Notes, 404. Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, forthcoming.




Related Photos

Indented Neck Corrugated (NRG) jar

Indented Corrugated (NRG) jar sherds

Indented Corrugated (NRG) jar

Neck Corrugated (NRG) jar sherd

Indented Corrugated (NRG) jar sherds

Indented Corrugated (NRG) jar sherds

Northern Rio Grande Indented Corrugated Handled Jar