Posted by C. Dean Wilson 2018

Pottery described here as Pecos Plain Polished / Smudged Utility reflects a new category but appears to be very similar if not identical to that from Pecos Pueblo described by Kidder as Sand-Tempered Plain Black Ware (Kidder and Shepard 1936). Such pottery consisted of about half the "modern" Plain Black Ware originally described from Pecos Pueblo, with the other half described as Tuff Tempered Plain Black Ware and would now be described as Tewa Polished Black. Pottery assigned to this group appears to reflect fairly widely distributed but poorly defined utility ware that appears to have been produced from the proto-historic and well into the historic period (Kidder 1936). Pottery assigned to this category reflect the distribution of jars with unpolished exteriors and polished and often smudged interiors. Pottery exhibiting such characteristics appear to fairly common in both Northern Rio Grande Pueblo and Hispanic assemblages dating to the early Colonial period but their occurrence appears to have been often lost by their placement into very broadly gray or smudged ware groups. This category as described here reflects pottery with poorly local alluvial sand temper similar to that described for the Plain Polished Red. In contrast to Plain Red, Shepard's examination of temper for Plain Black Ware from Pecos Pueblo indicates that about half was tempered with sand and half with fine tuff indicating that only half of the polished black wares examined were locally produced at Pecos. Pastes and surfaces are often dark gray to black but may be gray, brown or tan. Exterior surface are smoothed, unpolished, very rough, and almost always unslipped with occasional striations. Interiors are always slightly to moderately polished, and often black, reflecting smudging over an unslipped surface. Vessel forms include small to medium sized bowls and wide-mouth or cooking jars with moderate rim eversion. As is the case for pottery assigned to Pecos Polished, some vessels that would otherwise reflect this type may display sparse decorations of glaze paint through the smudged surface. Thus, the distinction between some Pecos Plain Smudge vessels may sometimes be difficult,

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

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