Cibola White Ware facts for kids

Cibola whiteware pots, Roosevelt Lake area, Arizona

Cibola White Ware is a special type of pottery made long ago in what is now Arizona and New Mexico. People created this pottery between the years 1225 and 1325. It's known for its beautiful black designs on a white or light gray background.

Where and When This Pottery Was Made

This pottery was made across a large area. It stretched from the San Juan River in the north down to the upper Gila River area in the south. It also spread from the White Mountains in the west to the Laguna Pueblo area in the east. It might have even reached further east into the Rio Grande area.

Cibola White Ware looks similar to other pottery styles from that time. All these styles were made by ancient Puebloan peoples. These groups often shared ideas for their pottery designs. Today, archaeologists (scientists who study old things) look at these small differences. This helps them figure out how old a site is. It also helps them understand how people traded goods long ago.

How Archaeologists Classify This Pottery

Archaeologists can tell Cibola White Ware apart from other similar pottery. One main way is by looking at the "temper" used. Temper is material added to clay to make it stronger before firing. For most Cibola White Ware, people used crushed pieces of old pottery as temper. They also used black paint made from minerals.

Sometimes, pottery looks similar but is classified differently. For example, if pottery has crushed pottery temper but uses black paint made from plants, it's usually called Little Colorado White Ware. This type was made near the Little Colorado River. However, there is one exception: Chaco-McElmo Black-on-white.

Some of the earliest Cibola White Ware even had sand mixed with the crushed pottery, or just sand as temper. The table below helps show how archaeologists tell these different types of ancient pottery apart: