Ware Name: Roosevelt Red (Salado Polychrome) Ware

First posted by C. Dean Wilson

Salado polychrome or Roosevelt Red Ware types are characterized by unique combinations of slipped treatments, pigment types, and painted designs over what is essentially a brown ware paste. Painted decorations are executed in a black organic paint over a cream, buff, or white slip, sometimes in combination with motifs executed in a red slip. The combination of a black organic paint and cream and red slipped surfaces often resulted in a stunning visual effect. The fact that potters over such a wide area were able to employ the necessary well controlled firing regimen and locate suitable local clay resources was a considerable accomplishment, and indicates a great deal of pressure toward the widespread production of a distinct and uniform pottery. This may be further reflected by the lack of regionally specific styles or forms of Salado Polychrome (Crown 1994). Salado Polychrome types are differentiated on the basis of temporally sensitive differences in painted styles and the additional presence of decorations applied in a red slip. Salado polychromes are among the most widely distributed Southwestern decorated types, occurring over a vast territory that was earlier occupied by the Hohokam, Mogollon, and the Southwestern most Anasazi (Crown 1994; Lindsay and Jennings 1968; Wood 1987; Young 1967; 1982). Their placement here with earlier ceramic traditions associated with the Mogollon is a reflection that in New Mexico, they most commonly occur in sites in the Mogollon Highlands, and the importance of influences from Western Anasazi traditions and other regions are certainly recognized. The area occupied by groups making Salado Polychrome expanded through time, and all the Salado sites in Southwestern New Mexico are associated with later periods of the Salado.

Related Types

• Cliff (Gila) Polychrome
• Gila Polychrome
• Pinto Polychrome
• Tonto Polychrome