Bowl Shapes and Surface Decoration
Early Roosevelt Red Ware bowls were only incurved or hemispherical in shape, whereas late bowls were often recurved. The appearance of recurved bowls was accompanied by changes in painted decoration and how decoration was applied to the bowl. The typical Gila Polychrome bowl is incurved or hemispherical in shape.
Gila Polychrome vessels are built from a brown clay. The interior surfaces of bowls were covered with a white clay suspension known as a “slip,” and the exteriors are covered with a red slip. Black painted designs were made in the white areas.
The painted decoration on the typical Gila Polychrome bowl begins just below the interior of the rim, with a wide line archaeologists refer to as the banding line. A section of this line is often left unpainted or “broken.” Below the banding line is blank, white space, and then painted decoration begins again.
Tonto Polychrome is distinguished from Gila Polychrome based on how ancient potters used red slipped areas inside their designs. On Gila Polychrome vessels, red and white only occur next to one another – one color never intrudes upon the space occupied by the other. On Tonto Polychrome vessels, the black-on-white designs include red slipped areas.
