The Murguía Incised-engraved type represents the most sophisticated level of decorative excision in the LQ-MVAP collection. That is, the use of heavy cross-hatching within or between motifs that Kelley and Kelley (1991:37) call “pseudo-champlevé,” in which the individual lines of the cross-hatching are somewhat closely placed resulting in the excision of much of the surface area. Red fill pigment is then applied in this partly carved out area. Some Murguía sherds are decorated in the champlevé method, in which the entire surface of the excised area is removed, then filled with red pigment. A further distinction of Murguía is the appearance of red filled carved tick marks appended to the exteriors of the design band lines. The final defining Murguía trait is that the neck/collar of the vessel containing the design band is concave in cross-section rather than plane or convex as with the Huizache and La Quemada types. While there are no recognized Murguía variants, there is a notably rigid adherence to the design standard shared by these vessels that involves the use of far fewer motifs than in the other two types.

All Murguía sherds have a black (7.5YR 2/0) paste color and no carbon streaks are visible. Refiring experiments conducted by Wells and Nelson (2002:194) suggest a tight range of firing temperatures from 760-780˚C. The predominant motif of this type is the scroll set within a single- or double-lined design band. The overall design is usually continuous without the use of divider panels. This type most closely resembles the Michilía and Vesuvio Red-Filled Engraved types of the Chalchihuites area (Kelley and Kelley 1971:29-43). Interestingly, Murguía appears to combine the design motifs of Vesuvio with the secondary features of Michilía, such as carved triangles appended to the design band lines.

There are two Murguía variants: curvilinear scroll and angular scroll (Figure 105). The hatched area of the curvilinear variant takes on the appearance of interlocking scrolls or waves (Figure 106a). It should be noted that curvilinear refers to the scroll element rather than the stepped element that sometimes appears with the scroll. The scroll may be connected (Figures 107a-b) or unconnected (Figures 108a-b). The angular scroll variant looks like the double rectangular volute described by Shepard (1985:298; Figure 69b). This variant is more likely to have carved triangles appended to the exterior design band lines and the design band tends to be placed on a more concave area than the curvilinear variant (Figures 109 and 110a-b).

Some sherds in the LQ-MVAP assemblage appear to have champlevé designs or backgrounds but have no observable pigment fill within the excised area. The motifs are geometric (Figure 111a) or life forms (Figures 111b-c). Other such variants may eventually be identified in the Murguía type, but frequencies are so low as to make assignation into named types somewhat premature.