Buff Ware Types and Attributes
Lower Colorado Buff Ware pottery is found fairly frequently in eastern San Diego County. These potsherds contain distinctive evidence of cultural choices, including the selection of clay and temper, methods of shaping and firing, and functional or stylistic choices in vessel shapes and decoration. The discovery of chronological patterning in ceramic variation is important both for interpreting the cultural behavior reflected in those changes themselves and for making use of sherds as chronological markers to trace changes in other aspects of Late Prehistoric culture in the region. Apart from their possible chronological value, buff ware types or traits may also be of interpretive importance as indicating the regions in which the pottery was produced or the ethnic identity of its producers.
The typological classification of Lower Colorado Buff Ware ceramics, undertaken primarily with an eye to making chronological distinctions, was begun by Malcolm J. Rogers. Although Rogers never published a typology, he did offer some interpretations of ceramic trait distributions in space and time (Rogers 1936, 1945). Subsequent investigators, including Albert H. Schroeder (1958), Ronald V. May (1978), Gena R. Van Camp (1979), and Michael R. Waters (1982a, 1982b, 1982c), published portions of Rogers’ working classifications and extended or altered them in a variety of ways.
Waters developed the most detailed and explicitly chronological version of Rogers’ Lower Colorado Buff Ware typology. The collections that Waters analyzed included materials from 44 sites in eastern San Diego County, primarily in the desert but with a few sites in the mountains. The plain (undecorated) Lower Colorado Buff Ware types and their time ranges, according to Waters, are listed below:
| Type | Number of San Diego Sites (Waters 1982c) |
Approximate Chronological Range (Waters 1982a) |
| Black Mesa Buff | 4 | A.D. 700-1000 |
| Colorado Beige | 3 | A.D. 700-1050 |
| Salton Buff | 9 | A.D. 950-1500 |
| Topoc Buff | 1 | A.D. 1000-1400 |
| Tumco Buff | 11 | A.D. 1000-1500 |
| Palomas Buff | — | A.D. 1000-post 1900 |
| Parker Buff | — | A.D. 1000-post 1900 |
| Colorado Buff | 44 | A.D. 1500-post 1800 |
Both Rogers and Waters closely linked the chronology for Lower Colorado Buff Ware to the chronology of prehistoric Lake Cahuilla in the Salton Basin (cf. Waters 1983). The general cultural periods that were distinguished were Patayan I or Yuman I (ca. A.D. 700-1000; non-lacustrine), Patayan II or Yuman II (ca. A.D. 1000-1500; generally lacustrine), and Patayan III or Yuman III (after ca. 1500; non-lacustrine). Subsequent studies have suggested that the Late Prehistoric presence of Lake Cahuilla began earlier, extended later, and was more intermittent than was originally proposed, making an association of buff ware types and traits with lakeshore settings of questionable chronological significance (cf. Laylander 1997).
Some recent studies have called into question both the manner in which the types have been defined and the chronological ranges that have been assigned to them (e.g. Arkush 1989; Hildebrand 2003; Laylander 1991; Rosen 1985; Townsend 1985).
In addition to ceramic types, Rogers and Waters suggested chronological significance for various buff ware traits or attributes. Some of their time ranges have also been questioned, and all of them await more rigorous confirmation.
Margie Burton (2009) examined the correlations between traits proposed as chronologically diagnostic, using an unprovenienced collection from the Anza-Borrego area. She found good agreement for the proposed associations between the early traits of incising, burnishing, and direct rims but not between incising and lip form.
| Attribute | Rogers 1945 | Waters 1982a | Additional Comments |
| basket molding | PI | PI, PII, PIII | — |
| hemispherical molding | — | PI | — |
| “Colorado” shoulder | PI | PI | — |
| small-mouth olla | PI | — | — |
| wide-mouth olla | PII, PIII | — | — |
| direct rim on jar | PI, PII | PI | also PIII (Laylander 1997) |
| recurved rim on jar | PII, PIII | PII, PIII | — |
| direct rim on olla, canteen, bowl | PI | — | — |
| recurved rim on olla, canteen, bowl, scoop | PII, PIII | — | — |
| direct rim on tray | PII, PIII | — | — |
| recurved rim on tray | PIII | — | — |
| tab, handle on scoop | PII, PIII | — | — |
| pipe | PI | — | also PIII (Laylander 1997) |
| rounded lip | PI | PI, PII | also PIII (Laylander 1997) |
| flat lip | PII, PIII | PI, PII, PIII | — |
| lug or loop handle | PI | PI | — |
| stucco finish | PII, PIII | PII, PIII | — |
| rim notching | PI | PI, PII, PIII | — |
| incised decoration | PI | PI | — |
| unobliterated neck coils | PI, PII | PI, PII | — |
| reinforced rim band | PII, PIII | PIII | — |
| burnishing | PI | PI | — |
| red clay slip | PI | PI | — |
| black-on-buff | PII, PIII | PII, PIII | — |
| red-on-red | PII, PIII | PI, PII, PIII | — |
| black-on-red | PIII | PII, PIII | — |
| zoomorphic design element | PI, PII | PI, PII | — |
| effigy head on scoop | PI, PII, PIII | PII, PIII | — |
| coffee bean eyes on scoop effigy head | PII, PIII | — | — |
PROSPECTS
Future archaeological investigations may be able to confirm, revise, or refine the chronological ranges and periods of predominance that are presently attributed to the various buff ware types or traits. The adoption of more rigorous, standardized, and relevant definitions of types and traits may be a part of this rese