MONTEZUMA CASTLE Montezuma Castle Archeology - Part 1: Excavations

Petroglyphs

No petroglyphs of any kind were discovered. While other ruins in the Verde Valley have such evidences, and the famous Red Rock country of Oak Creek, 25 miles northwest of here, is noted for its rock carvings and paintings, the people who built Castle A seem not to have been interested in this branch of aboriginal art. Probably the crumbly and uneven faces of the limestone formation here were unsuitable for such attempts.

Objects of Material Culture

STONE IMPLEMENTS

Metates, manos. Metates are of two types, rectangular with rounded corners (trough type), and flattened, rounded forms (shallow trough on one side and shallow circular pit on the other, for rotatory or pounding motion.) The former type is of by far the most frequent occurrence, only two of the latter having been found. (Photos 32-33.)

The material is almost always basalt, although one broken metate of sandstone was unearthed. Of the rectangular forms, the average length is 16 inches, average width 12 inches, average depth of trough 4-1/2 to 5 inches.

Manos are typically of lava (basalt), rectangular with rounded corners, and with but one grinding surface, although both sides were shaped. They were made for the trough-type metate. Occasionally a sandstone mano is found, one of which showed a triangular cross-section with two grinding surfaces, the type usually associated with flat metates. Manos averaged 5-1/2 to 8 inches long, 3-3/4 inches wide.

Grinders. Numerous surfaced stones of sandstone or diorite were found which must have served grinding or whetting purposes. Two paired sandstone disks were found together, with grinding surfaces on both sides. One sandstone slab with a well-worn concave surface, covered with powdery red paint, had seen service as a paint grinder. One small sandstone slab, 4-1/2 by 5-1/2 inches, was concave-convex in form, with the convex surface well worn, probably used as a crude finisher for rough, unfired pottery surfaces, or as a wood finisher.

Polishers. A number of small pebbles, of irregular form, well worn on all surfaces, some highly polished through use, must have served as polishers and smoothers.

Scrapers, or knives. Several large flint and obsidian chips, of both side- and end-cutting types, were found. These were all brought to a cutting edges by flakings on one side of the blade, which resulted in small conchoidal depressions.

Hoes. None of these appear to have been made for handles. All were thin plates of hard stone, well pointed, with one unaltered flat surface, showing a point in cross-section similar to that of a plane blade. (Photo 34.)

Anvils. Suggestive of an anvil or pottery moulder was one hard grayish stone, circular and flat, with a neck or handle tapering from the smoothed body. (Photo 38B.) This stone measured 3-1/2 inches, greatest diameter, by 1-1/4 inches thick.

Hammer-stones. One hard grayish stone, round and flat, with two utility surfaces, was found. A well-defined groove entirely circles it, indicating that a loop handle had once been attached. This stone (See Photo 38A) was 3-1/2 inches in diameter by 1-1/2 inches thick.

Three basalt stones, shaped somewhat in the form of large corks (Photo 38F), with the small ends used for handles, were probably used for pounders. Average length was 5 inches, greatest diameter 3-1/4 inches. These must have been held in the hand.

Miscellaneous. Three small cylinders, of basalt, in miniature pestle form, showing no evidence of wear at the ends, had speculative functions. They averaged 3-3/4 inches long by one inch in diameter. A possible use for shucking corn has been suggested. (Photo 38E.)

A small carving made from very soft lime formation resembling talc, deeply crotched at one end (Photo 38C), suggests no possible utilitarian function. It measures 2-5/8 inches long, 7/8 inch wide, and 3/8 inch thick. Its remote resemblance to a human form could hardly class it as an effigy.

Another forked or crotched stone, of hard grayish material, made from a crude rectangular block (Photo 38D), is likewise enigmatical. It is 2-1/8 inches long, 1-3/4 inches wide, 1 inch thick at the base, tapering to a thickness of 1/2 inch at the top.

Stone axes. Of 14 axes found, all were diorite or gabbro. Eleven were three-quarter grooved, three were full-grooved. One three-quarter grooved double-bitted axe was found. (Photos 35-36). No handles were found. Average length of axes was 5-1/2 inches. Two tiny ones measured 2 inches long, and one large crude specimen, on which the point had never been finished, measured 7-1/2 inches in length.

Stone picks. Three stone picks came to light in the excavation. Two were full-grooved, one was three-quarter grooved. They averaged 6-1/8 inches in length. A great many stone picks of this type have been found in the aboriginal salt mines 1 mile southwest of Camp Verde, 7 miles from Montezuma Castle. (Photo 36.)

FOODS

Corncobs, husks, and plant stems were found in storage caves, on floor levels, and in the room fills of Castle A. Rinds and stems of several varieties of squash occur at the site. From the excavation by Boundey were saved four kinds of seeds or beans, which probably augmented the plant foods of the inhabitants. Yucca "quids" were fairly plentiful, although the other cavate sites of the region contain them in greater numbers.

Irrigation for farming in the Verde Valley has been necessary since prehistoric times, and from the number of remains of irrigation ditches and canals in the valley we judge the inhabitants to have been both intensive and extensive farmers. There is a great deal of fertile land deposited in former stream beds of Beaver Creek in its lower portion and left accessible to farming as the stream changed its course to meander back and forth between the limestone cliffs of its borders.

Before the advent of cattlemen into the region in comparatively modern times, game must have abounded. Since the ranges have been over-stocked with cattle, forage has suffered, surface runoff of water has been much faster, and the ground surface has become pitted with deep, rough arroyos.

At a site 6 miles northwest of Camp Verde, Dr. Mearns found bones he lists as those of elk, mule deer, antelope, beaver, rabbit, turtle, and fish. At Castle A, we found few bones of game animals and birds. Deer, or antelope, and jackrabbit have been tentatively identified among these. A partial skeleton of a macaw was found. This bird, not native to Arizona, turns up occasionally in ruins such as this; evidently live macaws were traded up from Mexico to the Pueblo Indians.

WEAVING

No textiles were found in the excavation of Castle A. (Ed. note: Because Mrs. Kent⁹ has now studied the entire Montezuma Castle collection of textiles and weaving, duplicating descriptions have been deleted from this report.)

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9. Kent, 1954.

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Three types of sandals were found, of which the one most common to this immediate region is described as follows: yucca leaves are plaited, with both ends of a leaf left loose at the heel end of the sandal. This bundle of loose ends and 1 or 2 inches of the plaited leaves are turned back on the upper side of the sandal and fastened there, forming a cushion for the heel. The tie is usually of a thinner strip of yucca, with one toe loop, sometimes none, extending from the front of the sandal to behind the heel of the wearer.

Another type is of tightly plaited bundles of yucca fiber and was secured to the foot by three toe loops and a diagonal strap of braided yucca fibers. The third is of fibers handled in much the same manner as on fringe skirts. Cords are twined over two foundations with the looped ends extending approximately an inch on either side, making a soft, springy sandal. (Photo 41.)

One fragment of a leather sandal sewn with sinew completes the footwear material. This piece is in the form of a moccasin, and, as it was found on top of fill, may have derived from a later Indian visitation.

A very small piece of yucca weaving recovered may have been used as matting. However, the yucca elements are unusually small, and the weave is very fine, making the material pliable enough to have been used as a cloth.

A net of knotted yucca cords was probably used in carrying vessels or bundles; the two fragments found measure approximately 13 inches by 14 inches when laid together. (Photo 40).

Many fragments of yucca cordage were found. An interesting specimen is a 6-inch section of yucca rope 1/4 inch in diameter (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. a, weaving technique of large, coarse, coiled basket; b, yucca rope; c, yucca cord; d, cane cigarette.

Some weaving materials were recovered: bunches of unspun cotton, soaked and pounded yucca leaves, cotton and yucca threads, several spindle shafts, and a pottery spindle whorl. A wooden batten, 35 inches long, lay over the right hand of a female skeleton in Cist Grave 4.

A section of what was probably a large, coarse, coiled basket was uncovered on the floor of Room 3a. With the burning of the ceiling above it the basket also burned, so that we were able to save only a small section, but the charred material sufficiently suggests its weave. Bundles of grasses about an inch thick had been bound together with yucca strips, each strip binding one bundle and part of the fibers of the adjacent bundle (Fig. 7a).

BONE AND HORN IMPLEMENTS

Fifteen bone awls were found, varying in length from 2 inches to 6-3/4 inches. The longer ones might easily have served as weapons as well. Most of the pieces were excellently pointed but it was impossible to determine whether they had been fire-hardened. A bone needle, having an eye (Photo 37L) is considered an unusual find; this needle is hollow from one end to the other. A very good example of a knife, or dagger, broken but well finished, is shown (Photo 37K). The prong of a deer or antelope horn showed striations around the tip, and was very probably used for flaking stone.

WOODEN IMPLEMENTS

The wooden artifacts recovered were few and varied. There is the half section of a bark spindle whorl, 3 inches in diameter, the batten stick previously mentioned, a section of cane probably used as a cigarette (Fig. 7d), a small digging stick, a section of wood which is crudely incised in a criss-cross design, part of a curved wooden axe hafting, and part of an arrow foreshaft. From the work at Castle A by Boundey, we have two battens, and two flattened sticks with narrowed handles and smooth surfaces, probably paddles used in smoothing pottery.

LEATHER WORK

From the excavation by Boundey came a piece of tanned buckskin, evidently cut for some use to which it was never put. This piece is as soft as chamois skin.

A leather rattle was made of a piece of buckskin bound over a foundation circle of yucca fiber. The leather was tightly stretched on one side and tied on the other. One bead was found inside and there probably had been others before the leather cracked open and allowed them to fall out. This rattle reminds us in function of the gourd rattles used in Hopi ceremonials today.

ORNAMENTS

A few perforated Conus shells were found within rooms; the rest of the ornaments recovered occurred in graves.

Beads, discoidal in form, were found scattered through grave dirt. Screening of this dirt from several graves produced enough for a string 28-1/4 inches long, containing 735 beads. They averaged 1/8 to 1/4 inch in diameter and were made of red argillite, an unrecognized black stone, and of white shell. (Photo 43e.)

Seventeen olivella shell beads were found, also scattered; they were pierced at the closed ends for passage of the string (Photo 43d).

A number of Conus shells were evidently for pendants, as they had been pierced through the sides instead of at the ends for the string. (Photo 43a).

Two large bracelets were found on the left lower arm of a female in burial. These are of the rims of shells, all the rounded surface having been ground off (Photo 43b).

A half dozen small turquoise pendants, flat, of circular or rounded rectangular form, pierced at one end, were found. These must have been mainly used as ear pendants; one was found in position in a grave.

The prize of the collection, previously mentioned in connection with Cist Grave 3, is a glycymeris shell carved into the form of a thunderbird, having a string hole at the head end and the form of a thunderbird in miniature set in 85 pieces of turquoise on the convex surface of the shell. (Photo 44.) The shell measures 2-1/2 by 3-1/4 inches. When found, two partial rows of the sets were in place, and only a vague outline remained on the shell to indicate where the loose ones should be replaced. The adhesive material with which the sets were originally held must have been some kind of gum or pitch, probably lac, mesquite gum, or pinyon pitch, and the sets seem to have been glued to a bark base which in turn was stuck to the shell, although this base was so badly rotted its nature could not be positively determined.

POTTERY

Foreword. Since this report was written, the Handbook of Northern Arizona Pottery Wares, by Harold S. Colton and Lyndon L. Hargrave, 1937, and Tuzigoot, the Excavation and Repair of a Ruin on the Verde River Near Clarkdale, Arizona, by Louis R. Caywood and Edward H. Spicer, 1935, have been published. The appearance of these two works makes desirable some revisions of the following section on pottery. Two pottery types occurring both at Castle A and Tuzigoot have been named by Caywood and Spicer; most Arizona pottery types have been classified according to wares by Colton and Hargrave; and competent descriptions of the recognized pottery types found at Castle A have been printed.

The revisions appear as a list of Castle A pottery types by ware. page 45 (the classification having been made by Dr. Colton in 1939 when he reviewed this paper), and as footnotes. Unnecessary pottery descriptions have been deleted; descriptions of important local types and of local variations of well described types have been retained in this report.

Thanks are due Dr. H. S. Colton for his careful checking of this section in 1939, and for furnishing the revised dates on the time range of types listed on page 45; and to Dr. E. W. Haury for confirming that we have learned little about the central Arizona red wares in recent years—that the time range of these wares is "something that will have to be argued with the shovel."¹⁰

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10. Haury, 1946.

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Discussion. Castle A yielded very few whole pieces of pottery. Three restorable ollas and one large bowl were found in situ on room floors and 7 vessels were taken from the cist graves. With a total of only 11 complete pieces, we are forced to obtain almost all knowledge of the pottery of this site from the examination of potsherds.

All of the sherds were saved from Rooms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1a, and 2a; Caves 1 and 2; the cavate recess of Room 4a; and from the fill, over all but the easternmost end of the excavation. From the remaining rooms, all decorated sherds and representative samples of plain sherds were saved. These sherds were first separated into the divisions of plain and decorated wares, then counted.

From the areas from which all sherds were saved, there were 4,452 plain sherds and 259 decorated ones. Accounting for the fact that the plain utility vessels were probably much larger than the painted vessels and would therefore add more sherds per vessel to our count, it is still safe to say that plain pottery formed about 90% of the pottery of Castle A.

The plain ware divides into three types: a coarse utility type, Verde Brown; better finished Tuzigoot Red; and "Gila Red."

Verde Brown.¹¹ This type, which forms approximately 65% of the plain sherds, is probably that noticed by Gladwin to be so abundant at Verde sites and described by him as a "red, porous, brick-like ware, unpolished."¹²

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11. Caywood and Spicer, 1935, p. 42; Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 167.

12. Gladwin, 1930(a).

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Paste. Usually tan, sometimes yellow; frequently there is a gray core.

Temper. Very coarse and abundant; quartz and feldspar predominate, with some mica.

Texture. Porous and very friable. Surface disintegration is visible on many pieces.

Surface treatment. Anvil marks are seen on nearly every sherd. Many sherds show scraping marks which are especially noticeabble inside the neck sherds of the ollas. Most of the surfaces are rough; seldom is a sherd sufficiently polished to reflect light. There is no slip on this type. The sherds are commonly smudged from use on or near the fire.

Forms-Ollas. Two restorable jars were found in situ; one near the fireplace of Room 5 and one in the corner of Room 3a. The latter is 16-1/2 inches high; the diameter of the mouth is 9 inches, that of the body, 18 inches. The body is globular in shape and the neck is very short. The olla in Room 5 has a longer neck and flattened hemispherical body; the mouth diameter is 10 inches, the shoulder diameter, 22 inches, and the height, 16 inches. Rims vary from nearly straight to deeply recurved forms. Vessel walls are sometimes a half inch thick. Verde Brown was evidently used for the heavier duties of pottery: storage of food materials, cooking, and heating. The vessels were large but not well enough made to last long in use, a fact which probably accounts for the unusual preponderance of sherds of this type.

Tuzigoot Red.¹³ This type was first distinguished by Spicer and Caywood and is more fully described by them in their report on the excavation of Tuzigoot. It occurs in substantial amounts at Castle A, forming approximately one-third of the plain ware. Three whole bowls and one olla of this type were recovered (Photo 46A, B).

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13. Caywood and Spicer, 1935, p. 43; Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 167.

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Paste. Buff or brick red (depending probably on the firing). There is sometimes a gray core.

Temper. Predominantly feldspar with some quartz, a little mica, and frequent characteristic red particles.

Texture. Moderately coarse.

Surface treatment. Bowl exteriors are smoothed and sometimes polished; they may be the yellow or the red color of the paste or have a red slip. Bowl interiors often show anvil indentations but are usually some what smoothed, and sometimes are polished equally as well as the exterior. If the exterior is slipped, the interior is likely to be. Jar exteriors are treated as are the bowl exteriors. The interior surfaces are slightly, if at all, smoothed, and are the color of the paste or are smudged.

Forms. The only two shapes detected are bowls and jars, or ollas. Bowls are more common. The rims are slightly recurved, the tops flat. There are no flaring rims; there is always a slight lessening of the bowl diameter just below the rim. The thickness of the vessel walls varies from 1/8 inch to 5/16 inch in different vessels. The curve of the bowls varies from nearly straight to globe-like; infrequently there is a sharply bent shoulder on the straighter-sided bowls. (See Fig. 8.) The one restorable olla of this ware measures 9 inches high, with a lip diameter of 4 inches and a body diameter of 11 inches (Fig. 8). Judging from the many sherds showing the tall neck and deeply curved shoulder, this shape seems to have been typical.

Fig. 8. a, b, c, d, bowl rim forms of Verde Brown; e, bowl form of Verde Brown; f, olla side, cross section; g, olla form.

Remarks. This type forms the bulk of pottery other than utility ware at this site. It is distinguished from the coarse utility type Verde Brown by its smoothed, often polished surface, its finer texture, and its thinner walls.

Gila Red.¹⁴ While the bulk of the sherds so classed do not correspond in all respects to the published descriptions of Gila Red, they are probably of that type and have been so classified by Haury. (From the description Albert H. Schroeder suggests they may be Verde Red—Ed.) (Photo 45F).

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14. Gladwin, 1930 (6), pp. 12-15; Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 176.

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Temper. Sand

Texture. Fine and hard.

Forms. Bowls (one partially restorable bowl was found); slightly flaring sides with direct rims; vessel walls are thin (1/4 to 1/8 inch) and uniform throughout.

Interior surface treatment. Smudged and sometimes burnished: smoothing marks obvious.

Exterior surface treatment. Covered with red slip which sometimes shades into yellow near the rim (probably a form of firing cloud); usually well smoothed and polished.

Remarks. Gila Red forms approximately 3% of the plain wares at this site; no type like it was found at Tuzigoot. With the exception of a few long-necked vessel sherds which are typically Gila, this red ware is of a deeper red than the usual Gila ware. In color it is nearly identical with Sunset Red but it blacks the cinder temper characteristic of red wares of the Flagstaff region. Its nearest analogy in whole vessels seems to be in bowls in the Scorse collection from the vicinity of Holbrook. The center of distribution of the ware described may be east of this region, between the Tonto and Gila Basins and the northern plateau.

Corrugated pottery. One partially restorable olla of Tusayan Corrugated¹⁵ was found. The vessel is 9 inches high with a wide mouth, recurved rim directly joining the gently rounded body.

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15. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 196.

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Painted pottery. Of the decorated wares, Black-on-white forms 52% of the sherds. Considered on the basis of design elements Black-on-white sherds reveal these general divisions: a large majority of the sherds are decorated by solid straight lines forming triangles, squares, or scrolls with the frequent addition of a two- or three-step element at the termination of a line; a second division shows the above elements and the use of serrated or barbed lines; a few sherds include circular elements in the design; six sherds, from two different vessels, have spaces between lines filled with longitudinal hatching, the hatching lines being as broad as the bordering lines; a very few pieces show woven or mosquito-bar negative designs.

All of these elements are found in Black-on-white types to the north. The absence of fine-line hatching or the combined use of fine and broad lines, and the predominance of straight linear elements, mark a closer relation with Flagstaff types of Black-on-white than with those of the Roosevelt, Rio Puerco, or Tularosa areas. A representative sampling of our Black-on-white sherds was sent to Lyndon L. Hargrave of the Museum of Northern Arizona, and all except two sherds were identified by him as types occurring in the Flagstaff region.

Walnut Black-on-white. Approximately 80% of the Black-on-white sherds may be classified as Walnut Black-on-white.¹⁶ Walnut Black-on-white heretofore has been found only at Pueblo III sites. Here, the sherds which total second in number are of Jeddito Black-on-yellow, a criterion for Pueblo IV. While no crushed vessels of either type were found in conjunction with the other, the fact that sherds of both types were found scattered throughout the fill raises the question of their possible contemporaneous use at this site—during, of course, Pueblo IV. Undoubtedly the Jeddito Black-on-yellow was traded or brought into this region from the Hopi country; it occurs in its typical form in numbers at other Verde sites. Walnut Black-on-white, so far as known, is also trade ware at Castle A; its occurrence with Jeddito sherds may be explained by Walnut Black-on-White trade pieces being still used at this site long after the type had ceased to be manufactured to the north. (See Fig. 9.)

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16. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 237.

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Fig. 9. Designs of Walnut Black-on-white.

Fig. 10. Unusual designs of Walnut Black-on-white.

Deadmans Black-on-gray.¹⁷ One sherd of this type, which is usually found at Pueblo II and early Pueblo III sites, was uncovered in trenching into the fill in front of Castle A.

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17. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 253.

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Other Black-on-white types were identified as Flagstaff, Tusayan, and Dogoszhi Black-on-white.¹⁸ Each occurs in very small numbers and merely represents other trade pieces from the north. Several pieces of Flagstaff Black-on-white show a negative design.

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18. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, pp. 209, 213, 225.

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Two "hybrid" sherds with Black-on-white interior and corrugated exterior were found. (Ed. note: Possibly Shato Black-on-white.)

Kayenta Black-on-white.¹⁹ A small jar with vertical handle, and a ladle of the bowl-and-handle type were found in Cist Grave 3 and 3a, respectively. (Photo 45C, D.)

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19. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 217.

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Black-on-red types. These total 20 sherds. Eight of these are Tusayan Black-on-red,²⁰ although some have more sand tempering than is typical. One sherd shows the buff paste on the same surface with the black and red design and may be classed as Tusayan Polychrome or Citadel Polychrome²¹

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20. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 74.

21. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, pp. 75, 96; cf. Reed, 1944.

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The other sherds, presumably from one vessel, are of a different type, and were thought by both Haury and Hargrave to come from east of this region, probably along the Mogollon Rim. Similar sherds were found at Pinedale. The paste has coarse sand temper and a gray core. The slip is a pinkish red which has weathered to a light rose in places. The design is partially obliterated by the flaking off of the black pigment. Dr. Colton pointed out that this is undoubtedly a type of White Mountain Red Ware,²² and Reed suggests that it resembles the Showlow series.²³

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22. Colton and Hargrave, 1947, pp. 101-131.

23. Mera, 1934.

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Jeddito Black-on-yellow.²⁴ Approximately 36% of the decorated sherds are Jeddito Black-on-Yellow. No whole vessels were recovered. Bowl sherd designs are illustrated in Fig. 11.

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24. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 150.

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Fig. 11. Designs of Jeddito Black-on-yellow.

Bidahochi Polychrome.²⁵ Fragments of one vessel were taken from Cist Graves 1 and 2, in the fill above the burials. A restorable bowl was obtained in Cist Grave 3a (Fig. 12, Photo 45A).

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25. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 151.

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Fig. 12. Interior design of Bidahochi Polychrome bowl.

Other northern wares include polychromes identified by Hargrave as Winslow and Homolovi Polychromes²⁶

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26. Colton and Hargrave, 1937, pp. 82. 139.

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Winslow Polychrome. One bowl of Winslow Polychrome was found in Cist Grave 3. In design and general treatment, it corresponds very closely to the Bidahochi Polychrome bowl (Fig. 13, Photo 45B.) However, the paste is entirely different; the temper is coarse quartz and feldspar sand with occasional black and red particles; the texture is somewhat porous; a pinkish core is characteristic. Sherds of this type, while not plentiful, were well distributed throughout the site.

Fig. 13. Interior design of Winslow Polychrome bowl.

White-on-red Ware. In design this type is closely related to Salado Red but the surface is smoother and shows no corrugations. There are differences in several details from Tuzigoot White-on-red.²⁷ As far as the writer has been able to determine, there is no published description exactly fitting this type.

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27. Caywood and Spicer, 1935, p. 50.

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Paste. In the bowl found, resembles the paste of Tuzigoot Red. In sherds, the paste is yellow and the tempering material is coarse quartz and feldspar sand.

Texture. Coarse and friable.

Surface treatment. Nicely smoothed and polished; interior and exterior surfaces equally well finished; faint smoothing indentations are visible. Both surfaces covered with a red slip. Sometimes the interior is smudged.

Forms. Bowls and small, large-mouthed ollas; rims slightly recurved and rounded.

Design. White lines, appended dots, and single fret elements; lines are fairly accurately drawn but dots are commonly put on sloppily. The design is always on the exterior, on bowls as well as on jars, in contrast to Tuzigoot White-on-red (decorations confined to bowl interiors). The design is usually unbordered and extends in units or as a whole around one level of the vessel (Fig. 14a).

Fig. 14. a, White-on-red type; b, interior design of Tonto Polychrome; c, exterior design of Tonto Polychrome.

Remarks. A few sherds and one whole bowl (Photo 46E) occurred at Castle A. The bowl came from Cist Grave 1, in which there were no other whole vessels. Whole pieces of this type are seen in private collections from sites of this region. The largest number of vessels taken from one site were found when Gila Pueblo excavated the Rye Creek Ruin, near the foot of Ox Bow Hill south of Payson. Center of the type may have been in the upper Tonto Basin; it appears to have been the most common trade ware from the south and east in this region.

Tonto Polychrome.²⁸ Tonto Polychrome is represented at this site by 14 sherds, probably from three different bowls. The interior is covered with a white slip, on which the design is drawn with broad black lines and narrow red lines. On the exterior red slip are bands of white and black design (Fig. 14b). Tonto Polychrome occurs at Tuzigoot²⁹ but it is rarely found among the surface sherds at sites of this region.

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28. Gladwin, 2930 (6), pp. 8-9; Colton and Hargrave, 1937, pp. 90-91.

29. Caywood and Spicer, 1935, p. 48.

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Four-Mile Polychrome.³⁰ One sherd of this type was found.

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30. Haury, 1934; Colton and Hargrave, 1937, p. 109.

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Red-on-buff. The one sherd found resembles in paste the Red-on-buff ware at Tuzigoot³¹ much more than any of the Gila Basin series; it is believed by Haury to be a late Verde Valley variant of the red-on-buff ware of the Hohokam.

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31. Caywood and Spicer, 1935, p. 52.

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(?)—Estimated number.
T—Trace

Ceramic Group 8 to 11. Alameda Brown Ware 100% Southern Sinagua Branch, Honanki and Tuzigoot Foci, 1200-1350 A.D.

*Studied by Mrs. Van Valkenburgh in 1934; classification by H. S. Colton in 1939.

(The time range is that given in H. S. Colton and L. L. Hargrave, Handbook of Northern Arizona Pottery Wares, 1937, or a later revision by Dr. Colton.)

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32. Reed, 1944; Colton, 1946, p. 23.

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Ceramic Groups 8-11. Alameda Brown Ware 82%, Mogollon Brown Ware 18%. — Southern Sinagua Branch, Honanki and Tuzigoot Foci, 1200-1300 A. D.

*By Harold S. Colton and Katharine Bartlett

Conclusions, pottery. In the 10 test trenches dug into the fill below Castle A scattered plain sherds were found from the surface to the greatest depth of a trench, 12 feet, 9 inches; no refuse area was found. There were no structural leads as to different periods of occupation within the building. Hence no stratigraphic or chronological occurrence of changes in pottery is available. The finding of crushed vessels in graves is our only check of contemporaneous use; and this criterion must be regarded skeptically, since burials did not occur singly or in recognizable time order within the cist graves. The dirt fill of the cists showed the same mixture of sherd types found in the fill of all other parts of the excavation.

The occurrence at Castle A of Jeddito Black-on-yellow and Bidahochi, Winslow and Tonto Polychromes, show that it was occupied as late as Pueblo IV. Considering that Jeddito Black-on-yellow and other Hopi type wares are found in substantial numbers, we might reasonably expect to find Sikyatki Polychrome and other late developments of the Hopi series if this site was occupied during their time of manufacture. In the absence of datable wood from Castle A, this partial occurrence of the Hopi series seems to furnish the most reliable data on the termination of occupation at this site; since Sikyatki Polychrome and other fifteenth century developments are not found, Castle A was probably abandoned before or during the first quarter of the fifteenth century.

To the earliest time of occupation at Castle A, the pottery has given us no clue. Any known chronological changes in plain ware would be of help but there are no reports on the excavation of Pueblo I or II sites in this section of the Verde Valley. Decorated types of Castle A are of Pueblo III and Pueblo IV periods of adjacent regions.

At a site occupied during the Pueblo III and IV periods in contact with the country to the northwest, north, northeast, east, and southeast, it is probably not surprising that the decorated pottery should be composed of types whose centers are far apart geographically. It is because of this wide distribution of regional origin of our decorated wares that each type, even if represented by only one sherd, has been mentioned in this report. The feeling of the writers is that the decorated pottery of Castle A cannot be regarded as showing a local integrated ceramic art, but that it can be regarded as showing trade with, or infiltration of, peoples of other regions. This mixture of regional influences, as shown by the pottery of a late Verde site, may, after more excavation in the middle Verde and further work on the pottery so recovered, prove to be the key which will make clearer the composition of the later Verde Valley cultures and throw some light on the movements of Pueblo IV peoples in central Arizona.