First posted by C. Dean Wilson 2012

Lino Black-on-white as defined here was described by Hargrave (1932) as Lino Black-on-gray. It is the earliest Tusayan white ware type and is the dominant decorated pottery at Basketmaker III sites in most regions of the Western Anasazi (Ambler 1985; Beals and other 1945; Colton and Hargrave 1937; Colton 1955; Hays-Gilpin and van Hartesveldt 1998; Reed and others 2000). The span of production for this type is largely contemporaneous with the Basketmaker III period in other areas although it may have a slightly later beginning date at about A.D. 6oo and may have been produced into the mid ninth century (Reed and others 2000; Hays-Gilpin and van Hartesveldt 1998).

Lino Back-on-white is almost always unpolished on both surfaces. Temper commonly protrudes through the surface. Surfaces tend to be white to light gray. Lino Black-on-white is similar to pottery assigned to La Plata Black-on-white except that designs in Lino Black-on-white are decorated with a gray to black organic pigment rather than mineral paint. The great majority of the pottery assigned to this type is derived from bowls, although extremely low frequencies of gourd dippers, jars and seed jar with painted interiors are represented. Bowl and olla exteriors are often covered with a red iron powder commonly referred to as a fugitive red slip. Pottery assigned to this type is almost always tempered with coarse quartz sand that is probably derived from crushed sandstone. Paste tends to be hard with a coarse texture.

Designs are usually arranged in isolated groups of two or three arrangements or pendants from the rim. Designs motifs include thin lines, solid or open triangles, ticks, flags, and dot or basket stitched ("Z" and "I" motifs or filled spaces. The lower part of the bowl interior is often undecorated. Triangles are often connected together in long arrangements in bands around the rim or pendants across portions of the vessels. The overall design layout generally centers around a pendant from the rim. Life forms occur but are rare.

References:
Ambler, J. Richard
1985 Northern Kayenta Ceramic Chronology. In Archaeological Investigations Near Rainbow City, Navajo Mountain, Utah., edited by J. R. A. P.R. Geib, and M.M. Callahan. Northern Arizona University Archaeological Report 576. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.

Beals, Ralph L., George W. Brainard, and Watson Smith
1945 Archaeological Studies in Northeast Arizona. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnography, 44(1): 1-237, University of California Press, Berkeley.

Colton, Harold S. and Lyndon L. Hargrave
1937 Handbook of Northern Arizona Pottery Wares. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin No. 11, Flagstaff.

Colton, Harold S.
1955 Pottery Types of the Southwest: Wares 8A, 9A, 9B, Tusayan Gray and White Ware, Little Colorado Gray and White ware. Ceramic Series 3A. Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.

Hargrave, L Lyndon
1932 Guide to Forty Pottery Types from the Hopi Country and the San Francisco Mountains, Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona Bulletin, No. 1, Flagstaff.

Hays-Gilpin, Kelley A., and Eric van Hartesveldt
1998 Prehistoric Ceramics of the Puerco Valley: The 1995 Chambers-Sanders Trust Lands Ceramic Conference. Museum of Northern Arizona Ceramic Series No.7. The Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.

Reed, Lori S., C. Dean Wilson, and Kelley A. Hays-Gilpin
2000 From Brown to Gray: The Origins of Ceramic Technology in the Northern Southwest. In Foundations of Anasazi Culture: The Basketmaker-Pueblo Transition, edited by P.F. Reed, pp, 203-220. The University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.

Related Photos

Lino Black-on-white bowl

Lino Black-on-white bowl sherds

Lino Black-on-white jar sherds