362-208a,c<BR> Hohokam potsherds; pottery; Casa Grande ruins, Arizona; A.D. 1300-1450.<BR> Fourteen potsherds: 2 Gila Plain rimsherds (micaceous) of which one wide-mouth jar, and one bowl; 2 Gila Plain body sherds; 1 Gila Red (?) handle fragment; 1 Gila Red smudged body sherd; 1 Sacaton Red-on-buff bowl rim (pointed); 1 Casa Grande Red-on-buff jar rim; 3 Sacaton Red-on-buff body sherds (one bowl, two jars); 1 Casa Grande Red-on-buff body sherd (jar); 2 Gila Polychrome bowl rimsherds (see also: 362-208c).<BR> With the exception of utilitarian plainware, Red-on-buff pottery is the most common at Hohokam sites. Because of the spatial patterning of finds, it has been hypothesized that this type of pottery may have been produced at only a few locations, and distributed from there over Hohokam territory. However, more research is required for more definitive answers. Gila Polychrome was a second type of pottery unearthed in Hohokam sites, but in much smaller quantities, and was possibly a Salado introduction (Haury 1976:191-254; Neitzel 1991:184-186; also cf. Abbott 2000).<BR> Micaceous schist was used to temper pottery along the Middle Gila. The presence of Gila Polychrome indicates a Civano phase occupation of the site where Ten Kate collected these sherds. The Civano phase marks the cultural florescence of the Hohokam culture during its "Classic" period, and is thought to date to A.D. 1300 to 1450.<BR> Ten Kate (1889a:220) remarked that Hohokam pottery for utilitarian as well as ceremonial use testified to the artistic sensibilities and good taste of these prehistoric Indians. Gila and Salt Red are a particularly handsome utilitarian pottery to modern taste, especially when the interior of bowls was polished and smudged, producing a glossy finish. Gila Polychrome with its striking black-on-white interior designs and dull red exteriors intriguingly contrasts with the earlier red-on-buff pottery whose design repertoires changed from arrays of small zoomorphic and other elements to curvilinear, then interlocking (weaving) designs and finally to rectanguloid geometric ones (cf. Haury 1976:191-254).<BR> (Wilcox 2008)<BR>