This course is an introduction to a major artifact class found in Colorado: ceramics.  The course covers the technology of ceramic manufacture, basic description and analysis, and an introduction to some American Indian ceramic wares found in the state.  The course is not a study of ceramic typology; types will be described on a limited basis, and non-Indian wares are not discussed.  The course is of value to those individuals interested in the Late Prehistoric to Protohistoric period occupations (AD 150-1800) of Colorado.

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Class Outline

1. Introduction to ceramics
2. Technology of ceramic manufacture
   1. Three basic elements composing ceramics
      1. earthenware, stoneware & porcelain
      2. sources of clay and temper
   2. Ceramic paste and working it
   3. Vessel forming techniques
   4. Finishing techniques
   5. Firing the vessel
3. Description and analysis
   1. Viewing & describing paste, form & finishes
   2. Defining ceramic types, series & ware
4. General survey of Colorado ceramic earthenwares
   1. Plains ceramics wares

      -Cambridge
      -Frontier

      1. Plains Woodland & Developmental period
      2. Upper Republican
      3. Apishapa
      4. Sopris (Upper Purgatoire)
   2. Western Colorado ceramics
      1. Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi)
         -Northern San Juan Gray
         -Northern San Juan White
         -San Juan Red
      2. Fremont
         -Desert/Utility Gray
         -Ivie Creek White
   3. Colorado wares, post-AD 1300
      1. Quemado & Navajo Painted
      2. Dismal River & Sangre de Cristo Micaceous
      3. Intermountain
      4. Uncompahgre Brown
      5. Shoshonean Brown
   4. Trade wares