134 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 177 
KORIABO PLAIN 
Paste: 
Method of manufacture: Coiling, occasionally sherds break along the coil 
lines (pl. 34, k), but usually the coils are well erased, and kneaded 
together. 
Temper: Coarse sand with particles occasionally 1 cm. in maximum dimen- 
sion; majority 1-2 mm. Wide variation in amount, ranging from slight 
to abundant; some sherds are packed with temper particles so that they 
comprise over 50 percent of the mixture with quartz grains standing out 
prominently (pl. 34, c). In most of the sherds, temper is abundant and 
not well distributed, with clumping of the temper particles so that one 
area will have too much and the adjoining one no temper at all. 
Texture: Poorly kneaded giving banded or twisted layered appearance with 
air pockets common, ranging from pinpoint size to crevices 7 mm. long. 
Sherds break with a jagged edge that tends to be friable due to the abun- 
dance of poorly mixed temper particles. 
Color: Light orange, medium orange or bright orange in cross section with 
the color uniform throughout the paste in most cases. Rarely, bright 
orange from a quarter to one half of the way from the exterior and light 
orange the rest of the way. 
Firing: Oxidized. 
SURFACES: 
Color: Brown to orange to light tan, with the white quartz temper par- 
ticles standing out in contrast to the orange paste. 
Treatment: Majority of surfaces badly eroded. Those with original sur- 
faces are smoothed to remove and obliterate the coil lines, but not suffi- 
ciently even to eliminate irregular surfaces and varying body-wail thick- 
nesses. Fine crackle on both interior and exterior. Bowls tend to be 
slightly better finished on the interior, and jars on the exterior, but pits 
and minor flaws remain even on the best smoothed surfaces. 
Hardness: 3-3.5. 
Form : 
Rim: Direct with either rounded or slightly tapered lip, sometimes with 
hemispherical or rectanguloid lobes (pl. 34, e, g, h, j; fig. 54-1) ; slightly 
thickened and everted, with a flattened, tapered, or rounded lip and a 
flat or angular upper surface. 
Body wall thickness: 5-13 mm.; majority 7-8 mm.; griddles 1.5-1.9 em. 
Body diameters: 12-30 cm. 
Base: Both jar and bow! forms have three types of base: 
A. Flat, sometimes with the exterior slightly concave, joining the side 
walls at an angle of 25 to 50 degrees. Thickness is the same as 
the body wall, a few millimeters thicker, or in rare cases 2 mm. 
thinner than the body walls. Diameter is 8-12 cm. (fig. 54, A). 
B. Flat pedestal rising nearly vertically 1.0-1.8 cm. before joining 
the body wall at an angle of 25 to 30 degrees. Diameter 7-11 
em. (fig. 54, B). 
C. Rounded (fig. 54, C). 
Major vessel shapes reconstructed from sherds: 
1. Open bowls with walls rising at an angle ranging from 30 degrees 
to nearly vertical to a direct rim with a rounded, flattened, or 
tapering lip. Rim diameter 16-30 cm. (fig. 54-1). Some exam- 
ples of this form have lobes at various places along the rim 
dividing it into thirds or quarters. The lobes measure 3-7 cm. 
