Rio Grande Glaze A is one of six varieties of the Rio Grande Glaze series of Rio Grande Glaze Ware. The varieties are based on rim shape, with Glaze A having incurved rims with rounded or square lips.
Archaeological Culture: Ancestral Puebloan
Date Range: A.D. 1300-1500.
Construction: Coiling, followed by scraping,
Firing: In an oxidizing atmosphere.
Core Color: Deep red to light gray and buff-gray.
Temper: Usually mixed igneous rock, occasionally with sherds mixed in; may be olivine diabase.
Surface Finish: Thin to thick slip on exterior of jars and interior and exterior of bowls; polish ranges from streaky to well-polished; red slip may be a self-slip; slip ranges in color.
Surface Color: Yellow to buff, sometimes reddish.
Decoration:
- Paint: Thin glaze ranging from a thin matte with small streaks of vitrification to a shiny glaze; color usually intense black but may be grayish; paint is well controlled, not runny.
- Design: Thick parallel lines, slashes, crosses, pendant triangles, lines, squiggle hatching, cross-hatching, steps, dots ,ticks, checkerboards, eyes, feathers, occasionally anthropomorphs.
Comparisons: Glaze A is differentiated from variants B-F primarily by rim attributes. San Clemente Glaze Polychrome is a Glaze A type painted with black glaze paint.
Compiled from the following sources:
Eckert, Suzanne L. (2008) Pottery and Practice: The Expression of Identity at Pottery Mound and Hummingbird Pueblo. University of New Mexico Press. Albuquerque.
Compiled by:
April Peters, Northern Arizona University Anthropology Laboratories.