Fig. 2. Repaired pottery.
Black-and-white ware is the most common and the characteristic painted pottery, but fragmentary specimens of a reddish ware occur. One peculiarity in the lips of food bowls from Spruce-tree House (pls. 16-18) is that their rims are flat, instead of rounded as in more western prehistoric ruins, like Sikyatki. Food bowls are rarely concave at the base.
No fragments of glazed pottery were found, although the surfaces of some species were very smooth and glossy from constant rubbing with smoothing stones. Several pieces of pottery were unequally fired, so that a vitreous mass, or blotch, was evident on one side. Smooth vessels and those made of coiled ware, which were covered with soot from fires, were evidently used in cooking.
Several specimens showed evidences of having been broken and afterwards mended by the owners (fig. 2); holes were drilled near the line of fracture and the two parts tied together; even the yucca strings still remain in the holes, showing where fragments were united. In figure 3 there is represented a fragment of a handle of an amphora on which is tied a tightly-woven cord.
Fig. 3. Handle with attached cord.
Not a very great variety of pottery forms was brought to light in the operations at Spruce-tree House. Those that were found are essentially the types common throughout the Southwest, and may be classified as follows: (1) Large jars, or ollas; (2) flat food bowls; (3) cups and mugs; (4) ladles or dippers (fig. 4); (5) canteens; (6) globular bowls. An exceptional form is a globular bowl with a raised lip like a sugar bowl ([pl. 19], f). This form is never seen in other prehistoric ruins.
Fig. 4. Ladle.