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PRESCOTT GRAY WARE

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PRESCOTT BLACK-ON-GRAY

DESCRIPTION: CORE: Construction: by paddling. Fired: in an uncontrolled atmosphere so that parts of the same vessel might be gray, brown, or orange. Temper: Angular quartz sand and feldspar with conspicuous amounts of mica in the core and on the surface. Texture: medium to coarse. Thickness: Bowls 5.1 mm to 8 mm; average about 6.5 mm; jars, 8.9 to 10.6 mm; average about 10 mm. Surface: Color: very variable, vessel interiors a dark gray, exteriors may be gray, brown, or orange. Finish: slightly rough to well smoothed, not polished. Forms: Bowls and large jars.
DECORATION: Black designs on inside of bowls and on the inside necks of large jars. Paint: Black, dull, sometimes thick, sometimes thin, organic. Style: wide black lines or stripes, sometimes a definite layout, composed of nests of triangles and other motifs, usually crudely executed with unintentional splashes of paint.
RANGE: Yavapai County between the Verde and Big Sandy Rivers.
COMPARISON: Prescott Black-on-gray distinguished from other black-on-gray pottery by large amounts of mica, thickness, and cruder surface treatment.