TYPE: Estrella Red-on-Grey

DATE: 650 – 675 A.D.


COMMON FORMS: Bowls and jars with normal round shoulders and bottoms.


SLIP: None or Red?


COMMON COLORS: Grey, brown, or both


EXTERIOR TREATMENT: First instance of incising, less then 01% are coiled and incised. The incising is a slight deepening of the troughs between coils. This is also true of some of the Vahki Red examples of the Estrella Phase. Early examples of Estrella Red-on-Grey may have a polished red slip on the exteriors, later examples do not.


DESIGN PLACEMENT: Usually interiors of bowls, rarely decorated on the exterior of bowls.


COMMON DESIGNS: Early vessels show broadline simple designs, such as lines, triangles, squares, and scrolls (non-interlocking), that were polished over, creating a blurred effect as well as many later vessels having finer lines that were not polished over. These “finer lines still average 8mm or 5/16” in width. (Haury 1976;221)

KEY DIFFERENCES: Early vessels have a red slip on exteriors with simple polished broadline designs on interiors. Later vessels have no exterior slip and narrower line work (app. 8mm or 5/16” in width) on interiors that were not polished. Some examples have coiled exteriors that have grooved troughs between the coils.

Copyright 2004