Bowl

Recovered from Mug House during the Wetherill Mesa Archeological Project, this small bowl was made during the same time period as the large cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde. This bowl is an excellent example of Mesa Verde white ware, made using a coil-and-scrape method of construction that was polished, slipped, and fired. The thick slip often formed fine cracks during firing such as those visible in the interior of this bowl. The Mesa Verde black-on-white design includes highly stylized elements and a flattened rim with black ticking. Bowls were a very common form of pottery in prehistoric Mesa Verde and remain a part of the creative tradition of southwest Native American communities today.