Salado Motifs

Designs like those on Salado pottery may have had ideological or symbolic significance in prehistoric Mesoamerica and in Pueblo areas. Icons interpreted as horned or plumed serpents may have been associated with rain and water.

What explains the widespread use of Salado polychrome design motifs?

Salado polychrome pottery was traded and produced across areas of the Southwest from about AD 1280 through 1450. This shared pottery style may have served to tie diverse peoples together. Widespread migration, perhaps due to drought, took place in the 13th century Southwest.
Peoples living far from their kin groups may have wished to find ways to forge ties with the strangers around them. Theories proposed to explain the spread of Salado pottery include:

• The adoption of such distinctive pottery motifs may represent the spread of a new belief system.
• The pottery may have indicated participation in a broad trade alliance.
• The pottery might have been a symbol of authority for leaders throughout Salado Horizon areas.

Poly (many) • chrome (color)

		Tonto Polychrome AD 1320-1450 The latest of the Salado styles combines three colors in the design motifs. Black-on-white design fields intersperse the red background color.
		Gila Polychrome AD 1320-1450 These vessels have red-colored areas with black and white design motifs, and a black banding line below the rim. The banding line often has a break to allow symbolic movement above and below.
		Pinto Polychrome AD 1275-1320 These early vessels include red-colored exterior areas with black and white interior design motifs on bowls. The designs on the interiors run up to the bowl rim.

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