Cliff Polychrome

Abstract

ABSTRACTGila Polychrome is the key ceramic type used to identify deposits and to date events and processes associated with the late Classic period in southern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and adjacent areas. Because Gila Polychrome was a long-lived type, however, made circa A.D. 1300–1450, it has proven very difficult to track change through time during the late Classic period. Previous researchers have identified temporally sensitive characteristics of form and design among Gila Polychrome bowls. The results of more recent research, including Crown's (1994) analysis of hundreds of Gila Polychrome whole vessels, and the test excavation of Classic period sites in the San Pedro River Valley of southeastern Arizona, confirm that a late form or “subtype” of Gila Polychrome can be discerned. This late type or subtype has been named Cliff Polychrome (Harlow 1968). The available evidence suggests Cliff Polychrome was first produced during the period A.D. 1350–1375. Recognizing Cliff Polychrome as a separate typological entity provides archaeologists additional means of subdividing the late Classic period.