Posted by C. Dean Wilson 2018

This category refers to a very common and long-lived pottery type noted during excavations at Pecos Pueblo and described as Indented Blind-corrugated (Kidder Shepard 1936). Pecos Blind (Smeared) Corrugated as defined here refers to gray ware pottery forms thought to have been produced in the area around Pecos National Park for a period possibly spanning as long as A.D. 1100 TO 1500. (Powell 2002). The term refers to similar treatments as noted for pottery from other areas of the Rio Grande characterized as Smeared Corrugated although coils on much of the pottery from sites in the Pecos area appear to be particularly faint or obliterated. Pottery assigned to this type is distinguished from other gray wares with textured exterior surfaces by the complete obliteration between lines between coils resulting in a dimpled surface. Such obliteration is often so dramatic that relief on the exterior surface is often extremely faint. The space or gap between coils have almost been completely effaced. While utility wares exhibiting such characteristics have sometimes been referred to as smeared corrugated, this term may be a misnomer given this effect appears to have most commonly resulted from a very distinct construction technique where the inside obliteration of coils during construction resulted in the almost complete obliteration of exterior coils. Interior surfaces are smoothed and unpolished with visible striations. Vessel forms are overwhelmingly represented by cooking jars with moderate to high rim eversion. Surfaces and paste cross-section are pastes are usually dark gray, but may also be gray, tan or brown, and appear to reflect the use of high iron clays in a reduction atmosphere and relatively high temperature. Temper almost always consists of a sorted sand, multilithic sand or eroded sandstone that appears to have been arrived from streams or alluvial sources. It likely that similar pottery may have been produced along drainages with similar clays and temper resources over a wide area surrounding Pecos Pueblo occupied during the Coalition period. Occasional exhibiting corrugated indentation without smearing or clapboarded treatments, that also exhibit treatments indicative of local production, may be assigned to varieties reflecting the particular type of corrugated exterior treatment.

References:
Kidder, Alfred V.
1936 The Pottey of Peocs, Volume II Glaze Paint, Culinary, and Other Wares. Papers of the Phillips Academy No.7, New Haven.

Powell, Melissa S.
2002 Ceramics. In From Folsom to Fogelson: The Cultural Resources Inventory Survey of Pecos National Historic Park, Vol. I, edited by G. N.Head and J. D. Orcutt, pp. 237–304. Intermountain Cultural Resource Management Professional Paper No. 66. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Related Photos

Pecos Blind (Smeared) Corrugated sherds

Pecos Blind (Smeared) Corrugagted jar sherds

Pecos Blind (Smeared) Corrugated jar sherd