Mancos B/W (AD 1000-1150)

The following are some representative examples of Mancos B/W sherds:

         

       

        

(Click on image to enlarge.)
Type Ceramics Provenience Info

Type sites:

 Lowry Ruin. Mesa Verde N. P.: Site 16, Big Juniper House (Breternitz et al:38).

Dating:

 Pueblo II to Pueblo III transition. Late AD 900s through 1100s.
    AD 950-1150. (Abel (1955) in Cattenach:206).
     P II, AD 1000-1150 (Lucius and Breternitz et al:23).
     AD 980-1150+ (Varien,CCAC Site Testing, Appendix A-1).
     First appearance: last decades 900s; dominant AD 100-1150  (Wilson and Blinman:50).

Texture:

 Indistinguishable from Cortez at Badger House (Hayes and Lancaster:128). 
Medium to fine (Breternitz et al:37).

Temper:

 Crushed sherd with crushed rock in varying amounts – 38% of a random sample of 100; 
     with rock (some with added sand) – 57%; with sand only – 5% (Hayes and Lancaster:128). 
Principally crushed sherd; also crushed rock in about one-third, possibly from the sherds; 
     also combined with sand (Breternitz et al:37).
Crushed sherd, crushed rock (Varien:Appendix A(1)).

Slip:

 Slipped and unslipped (Varien:Appendix A(1)). 
Same as Cortez (even, medium-thick), increasing density and crackling of slip. 12% 
     unslipped (Hayes and Lancaster:128). 
Usually smooth, white, often finely crackled (Breternitz et al:37).
At Puzzle House, extremely varied.

Polish:

 Polished and unpolished (Varien:Appendiz A(1)). Same at Puzzle House.
None unpolished (Hayes and Lancaster:128).
Well-polished (not always bowl exteriors) (Breternitz et al:37).

Paint:

 Mineral (Hayes and Lancaster:128; Varien:Appendix A(1)).
Mineral in organic medium – the organic rarely evident (Breternitz et al:38).
Carbon examples occur at Puzzle House.
Organic paint variety has been called Wetherill B/w (Breternitz et al:38). 
Paint occurs on bowl and ladle interiors (seldom on exteriors), handles, upper 
      exteriors of jars, pitchers, ollas (Breternitz et al:38).

Rims:

 Usually tapered and rounded; rarely untapered and rounded or flattened (Breternitz et al:38).
Plain or solid, occasionally ticked (Breternitz et al:38).
4% ticked, mostly in latest proveniences (Hayes and Lancaster:130).
Of 50 sherds: 28 solid, 13 plain, 9 ticked in a variety of patterns (Cattenach:208).

Shape:

 Thin-walled, similar to Cortez. Metallic ring (Hayes and Lancaster:128).
5% corrugated exteriors on bowls, increasing with time. Some basket-impressed 
      (Hayes and Lancaster:128; Breternitz et al:38). 
Bowls sometimes hemispherical, often straight-walled slope from base to rim. Latter may 
     angle up to a short vertical section below rim. 
Half-gourd dipper 43%, down from 57% in Cortez (Hayes and Lancaster:129).
Tubular (hollow) dipper handle. Very rare in Cortez. Rises to 25% in Mancos, 
     increasing with time. Some with rattles. (Hayes and Lancaster:129). 
Olla necks shorter, mouths smaller than Cortez (Hayes and Lancaster:129).
Flat strap jar handles - round loops and lugs declining (Hayes and Lancaster:129).
Pitchers: sharp shoulder, angled neck. (Cortez: rounded/straight.) (Hayes and Lancaster:129).
Decrease in pitchers, effigies, squash pots (Hayes and Lancaster:129).

Design:

 Variety ranges from “broad panels and bands to ‘all-over’ designs” (Varien:Appendix A(1)). 
Frets: A dominant Mancos design. Large, bold, designs of parallel lines that turn corners to form
     concentric pattern. Often sharply triangular but also squared or rounded. Also ‘key’ designs. 
Hachure: Between extended parallel or fret lines. At Badger House, 51% had this trait. 
     (Cortez had hachure in only 6%.) Generally hatched at a diagonal angle to the 
     framing lines. (Cortez hachure more often at right angles.) Squiggled in early 
     proveniences, straight in later, also mixed or crossed (Hayes and Lancaster:130). 
Single, dropped framing line occurs (less often than in Cortez) (Hayes and Lancaster: 122). 
Band designs, with bold, large elements, occur but are hard to detect without large sherds.
Checkerboard: Conventional and triangle-type. 
‘Drip-lines:’ Usually from rim, and sets of graduated-length drip-lines. 
Solid black triangles: As parts of patterns or as line embellishments. 
Boldness rather than delicacy of line (although Cattenach (206) cites fine line work, calling it 
     similar to Mesa Verde but unmatched in McElmo).
Dots: In rows and ranks, and as filling between parallel lines (Hayes and Lancaster:128-134).
Scrolls: Less frequent and of different shape than in Cortez. Mancos scrolls do not emanate 
     from tips of ticked triangles as in Cortez.  Are design elements on their own, often boldly 
     edged with border of solid triangles (Hayes and Lancaster:126, fig. 139-140).  In Mancos 
     pottery at Badger House, scrolls had ‘all but disappeared’ (Hayes and  Lancaster:130).
Design-divider segments made of multiple parallel lines were not used at Badger House 
     (Hayes and Lancaster:124).
Use of space-filling elements and abutting-design arrangement is less characteristic.

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