Ware Name: White Mountain Red Ware

First posted by C. Dean Wilson 2012

White Mountain Red Ware types refer to distinct painted red slipped pottery primarily produced in areas in east central Arizona that were widely distributed across much of the Southwest (Carlson 1979; Colton and Hargrave 1937). White Mountain Red Wares are represented by types reflecting gradual changes in slip and decoration over a period from about A.D. 1030 to 1500. A related tradition may have continued into areas of the Rio Grande region with the production of Rio Grande glaze wares until the end the seventeenth century. This tradition includes red slipped vessels with bichrome decorations in black paint or polychrome decorations involving the addition of white clay paint to bowl exteriors (Carlson 1978). White Mountain red wares were very widely distributed, as they are found across much of the Southwest. While most of the pottery assigned to this tradition is assumed to have been produced in an area in west-central Arizona in the vicinity of St. Johns area in east central Arizona, regional variants of this tradition may have been produced along the Acoma Province, Mogollon Rim, and Middle Rio Grande Valley. White Mountain red wares are almost exclusively tempered with white, gray, and orange crushed potsherd fragments. Paste clays are often represented by low iron clays that are white, buff, to gray, although some are orange to red. Pastes tend to be hard with medium texture. Surfaces tend to be covered with a thick deep red to orange slip and tend to very well polished.

Related Types

• Cedar Creek Polychrome
• Fourmile Polychrome
• Kintiel - Klagetoh Polychrome
• Pinedale Black-on-red - Polychrome
• Puerco Black-on-red - Polychrome
• Showlow Polychrome
• Springerville Polychrome
• St Johns Black-on-red - Polychrome
• Techado Polychrome
• Wingate Black-on-red - Polychrome