Ancestral Pueblo: Southern Colorado Plateau (Anasazi)Central AnasaziChuskaChuska White Ware (Organic Paint)Tunicha Black-on-white

Type Name: Tunicha Black-on-white

Period: 850 A.D. - 900 A.D.
Culture: Ancestral Pueblo: Southern Colorado Plateau (Anasazi)
Branch: Central Anasazi
Tradition: Chuska
Ware: Chuska White Ware (Organic Paint)


First posted by C. Dean Wilson 2012

Tunicha Black-on-white was defined by Wilson and Peckham (1964). This type refers to trachyte tempered white wares that closely resemble Kana'a Black--on-white as described for the Cibola tradition. Decorated surfaces are covered with a relatively thick white polished slip over a gray paste. The slip tends to be soft and is often highly weathered. Decorations are executed in a thick black organic paint. Decorations consists of combinations of motifs that border or divided by a series of thin and relatively widely spaced lines organized in banded or pendant layout. Design motifs utilized to embellish these lines include dots, solid triangles, scrolls, step triangles, squiggle lines, and ticked or fringed triangles. A wide and even mixture of forms is represented by pottery assigned to this type and includes bowls jars and pitchers. This type appears to most commonly occur on sites dating to the late ninth century.

References:
Wilson, John P. and Stewart Peckham
1964 Chuska Valley Ceramics. Manuscript on file, Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe.

Reed, Lori S., Joell Goff, and Kathy Niles Hensler
1998 Exploring Ceramic Production, Distribution, and Exchange in the Southern Chuska Valley: Analytical Results from the El Paso Natural Gas North Expansion Project, Pipeline Archaeology 1990-1993: The El Paso Natural Gas System Expansion Project, New Mexico and Arizona, Vol XI, Book 1, Report no, WCRM (F)74, Farmington.




Related Photos

Tunicha Black-on-white bowl sherds

Tunicha Black-on-white bowl

Tunicha Black-on-white bowl

Tunicha Black-on-white bowl

Tunicha Black-on-white jar