Pottery exhibiting yellow surface decorated with black and or red paint still produced on the Hopi Mesas, begin with the production of distinct coal fired Jueddito Yellow wares. Major shifts in pottery technology in the Tusayan region occurred at about A.D. 1300 with the aggregation of populations scattered across the Tusayan region onto the Hopi Mesas, Hopi Buttes, Homol'ovi and the Puerco Valley (Gilpin and Hays-Gilpin 2012). By the early fourteenth century Hopi potters began to use coal to fire low-iron clays resulting in the production of very hard and durable pottery. The elimination of the red slip earlier utilized in the production of orange ware types may be viewed as part of a logical progression that led to production of Jeddito Yellow Ware with Jeddito Orange reflecting a type transitional between Tsegi Orange Ware and Jeddito Yellow Ware types. (Gilpin and Hays-Gilpin 2012). Still, another path postulated to have resulted in the production of yellow wares may have consisted of adjustments in the production in the last Tusayan white ware type produced "Bidahochi Black-on-white", which were made with local clays and would have resembled local yellow wares if it were to be fired in an oxidation atmosphere in very high temperature. Thus Jeddito Yellow Wares may be best viewed as a fusion of earlier Tusayan orange and white ware technologies. The combination of clays and firing atmosphere and high temperature resulted in a very distinct combination of characteristics (Colton and Hargrave 1937). Paste and surface color tends to be a strong yellow to pink color. Vessels are vitrified and extremely hard and shatter easily with almost porcelain-like quality. Temper is limited to extremely fine natural inclusions. Surfaces are not slipped but well-polished and decorated with a black mineral paint sometimes in combinations with red pigment to produce a polychrome effect. While the area of production of Jeddito Yellow wares was well outside New Mexico, their hardness and durability may have contributed to their distribution over a wide area which included Pueblo and Navajo sites in New Mexico. 

This description comes from the Pottery Typology Project Collection maintained by the Office of Archeological Studies.