First posted by Toni S. Laumbach 2015

Magdalena Black-on-white composes over 50% of the painted ware assemblage excavated from the Pinnacle Ruin at the Canada Alamosa Project located northwest of Truth or Consequences, NM. Magdalena Black-on-white is controversial because its similarity to Mesa Verde/McElmo Black-on-white has led previous researchers to suggest that an emigrant population from the Mesa Verde culture area produced it. Stylistically, the Magdalena Black-on-white from Pinnacle Ruin looks like McElmo Black-on-white or Santa Fe Black-on-white from the middle Rio Grande. Like McElmo Black-on-white, Magdalena Black-on-white is characterized by a creamy white to gray white slip that frequently appears crackled, an organic pigment, and polishing over both slip and pigment. Magdalena Black-on-white from the Pinnacle Ruin shares the McElmo design style that exhibits bold solids with opposed diagonal lined hatch lines. Multiple parallel lines, multiple stepped lines, appended dots from linear elements, and checkerboard patterns are common motifs. Curvilinear motifs are absent on Magdalena Black-on-white. Designs on both bowls and jars are framed within a body band that encircles the vessel. Like McElmo Black-on-white, rim ticking is rare to absent on sherds of Magdalena Black-on-white from the Pinnacle Ruin. Also similar to McElmo Black-on-white is the use of rock temper. The Pinnacle Ruin Magdalena Black-on-white is tempered with rhyolitic detritus. Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) of Magdalena Black-on-white from the Pinnacle Ruin has shown that the majority of this pottery was made at the Gallinas Springs Site (In Press, Ferguson, et.al.). NAA data also provides evidence that there was limited production locally at the Pinnacle Ruin.

Magdalena Black-on-white was recognized and described by Emma Lou Davis (n.d., 1964) from samples she examined at LA1178, the Gallinas Springs Site, which is a large masonry pueblo located about 60 miles northeast of the Pinnacle Ruin in the Canada Alamosa. It was she who first suggested a similarity with Mesa Verde types and the possibility of immigrants from that region settling at Gallinas Springs. Helen Warren described a "southern" McElmo (Warren:1974). Gomolak and Knight also examined and reported on the Gallinas Springs Magdalena B/W. Knight's (1981:2) initial interpretation of Magdalena Black-on-white was that it represents "a local tradition developed over some length of time." Later, Gomolak and Knight (1990:8-24) changed their interpretation and attributed Magdalena Black-on-white at Gallinas Springs to "proto-Laguna" and post Mesa Verde immigrants, referencing Laguna migration legends documented by Ellis (1974).

In support of Gomolak and Knight's early view of Magdalena Black-on-white as representing a local tradition, Bertram (1990:3-4) suggested that Magdalena Black-on-white could be considered to be a local version of Tularosa Black-on-white and its variants. However, the design motifs and overall design style of Magdalena Black-on-white and McElmo Black-on-white are quite dissimilar to that of Tularosa Black-on-white, a contemporary of both types. The hallmark designs for Tularosa Black-on-white are the massed joined hatched and solid element unit or the hatched unit with complex edges that is interlocked with a solid unit. Interlocked motifs are most often curvilinear and hatching is rendered parallel to the framing line. Such features are not part of either a McElmo or Magdalena Black-on-white design system.

The design style of carbon painted Magdalena Black-on-white at the Pinnacle Ruin is that of McElmo Black-on-white and not that of Mesa Verde Black-on-white. McElmo Black-on-white began to be made around A.D.1100 while Mesa Verde Black-on-white began one hundred years later. McElmo Black-on-white also continued to be produced into the 1200s (Breternitz et.al. 1974: 41-43). By the late 13th century, sites in the Mesa Verde region have a ceramic assemblage that is dominated by Mesa Verde Black-on-white pottery, but McElmo Black-on-white also continued to be produced in diminishing quantities (Breternitz et.al. 1974: 41-43). The majority of the carbon-painted pottery at the Pinnacle Ruin is the McElmo style. Based on carbon dates from the stratigraphic positions of the McElmo style Magdalena Black-on-white, the data suggests two things. First, the "Mesa Verde" immigrants arrived around A.D.1240 at the Pinnacle Ruin, and they abandoned the site by circa A.D. 1300 if not before. Second, the immigrant community was isolated at the Pinnacle Ruin and was somehow cut-off from those cultural trends that could have influenced the transition from a McElmo design style to a Mesa Verde design style. Given the dominance of McElmo style Magdalena Black-on-white in the Pinnacle Ruin assemblage, the presence of shaped and coursed masonry, and the presence of a well-developed midden and the defensive location of the site, there is little doubt that populations from the San Juan culture area had something to do with the occupation of the Pinnacle Ruin.

References:
Bertram, J.
1990 In Excavations in the South Room Block of Gallinas Springs Pueblo (LA 1178), A Large Town of the Gallinas Mountain Phase (Late Pueblo III - Early Pueblo IV) on the Mogosazi Frontier, edited by J.B. Bertram, A.R. Gomolak, S.R. Hoagland, T.L. Knight, E. Garber, and K.J. Lord, 8:1-55. Albuquerque, NM: Chambers Group. On file at USDA Forest Service, Albuquerque.

Breternitz, D.A., A.H. Rohn Jr., and E.A. Morris
1974 Prehistoric Ceramics of the Mesa Verde Region. Flagstaff, AZ: Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art.

Davis, E.L.

n.d. Field Notes from 1961 Season. Manuscript on file at National Park Service Office, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.

1964 Anasazi Mobility and Mesa Verde Migrations. PhD diss., University of California.

Ellis, F.H.
1974 Anthropology of Laguna Pueblo Land Claims, Docket #227, Claimants Ex. #92. In Pueblo Indians III. New York: Garland

Ferguson, Jeffery R., Karl W. Laumbach, Stephen H. Lekson, Toni S. Laumbach, and Virginia T. McLemore.
In Press You Get It Here, I'll Get It There: Examining the Divergent Long Distant Exchange Patterns Throughout the Pithouse and Pueblo Occupation of the Canada Alamosa. IN How, Why, and Beyond: Exploring Cause and Explanation in Historical Ecology, Demography and Movement (Proceedings of the 13th Biennial Southwest Symposium, January 14-15, 2012, Albuquerque, New Mexico )edited by Ann F. Ramenofsky and Cynthia Herhahn, University of Colorado Press, Boulder.

Gomolak, A.R., and T.L. Knight
1990 Ceramic Analysis. In Excavations in the South Room Block of Gallinas Springs Pueblo (LA 1178), A Large Town of the Gallinas Mountain Phase (Late Pueblo III - Early Pueblo IV) on the Mogosazi Frontier, edited by J.B. Bertram, A.R. Gomolak, S.R. Hoagland, T.L. Knight, E. Garber, and K.J. Lord, 8:1-55. Albuquerque, NM: Chambers Group. On file at USDA Forest Service, Albuquerque.

Knight, T.L.
1981 Ceramics of LA1178, Gallinas Springs, New Mexico. Jicarilla Archaeological Services, Dulce. Manuscript on file at the USDA Forest Service, Cibola National Forest, Albuquerque, NM.

Warren, A. H.
1974 Southern Variety of McElmo Black on White. Pottery Southwest 1 (2): 4.

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Magdalena Black-on-white sherds

Magdalena Black-on-white bowl sherds

Magdalena Black-on-white sherds

Magdalena Black-on-white bowl sherd