Ancestral Pueblo: Southern Colorado Plateau (Anasazi)Western AnasaziTusayan (Kayenta)Tusayan White WareFlagstaff Black-on-white

Type Name: Flagstaff Black-on-white

Period: 1150 A.D. - 1220 A.D.
Culture: Ancestral Pueblo: Southern Colorado Plateau (Anasazi)
Branch: Western Anasazi
Tradition: Tusayan (Kayenta)
Ware: Tusayan White Ware


First posted by C. Dean Wilson 2012

Flagstaff Black-on-white was defined by Hargrave (1932). This type is assigned to white wares exhibiting the very distinct styles employed in the Tusayan or Kayenta region during the early part of the Pueblo III period (Hays-Gilpin 1998). Flagstaff Black-on-white appears to have been produced from about A.D. 1150 to 1220.

Paste is hard and white to light gray. Temper commonly consists of fine quartz sand although some examples exhibit occasional dark fragments, sherd fragments, or fine volcanic ash. Surfaces are polished and slip may sometimes be present but difficult to detect. Forms are commonly represented by bowls that often exhibit out flaring rims, but may also include jars, effigies, and ladles. Decorations are in a gray to deep black organic paint. Flagstaff Black-on-white is easily distinguished from other contemporary white ware types by lines reminiscent of the Sosi style that tend to be slightly thinner with more embellishments. These include straight lines, inter-locking rectilinear hooks, nested chevrons, and appended triangular barbs in an open format. Rows of small triangles and ticked lines produce negatives spaces with edges with a serrated effect.

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




Related Photos

Flagstaff Black-on-white sherds

Flagstaff Black-on-white bowl

Flagstaff Black-on-white bowl

Flagstaff Black-on-white effigy

Flagstaff Black-on-white bowl