INTRODUCTION

     First, recall the goals of the archaeological excavations at hypothetical Hilltopper Shelter.  One research question concerns when the site was occupied.  Is Hilltopper Shelter a single component historic period site or a multicomponent site that also represents prehistoric occupations?  Can a specific range of years be specified for each occupation?  The other research question relates to the function of the site during each temporally-distinct occupation.  How was the site used during each occupation?

    In the first lab we considered how lithic artifacts might be used to answer these questions.  In this lab, we examine how fired clay artifacts can be used to address these questions. Analysis of the ceramics, pottery, pipes, marbles, bricks, and other fired clay objects from the shelter will proceed with these questions in mind.  How can fired clay artifacts be used to determine period of occupation?  How can fired clay artifacts be used to determine site function?  Some approaches are explained and demonstrated in this lab.
 

OCCUPATION HISTORY

     PREHISTORIC DIAGNOSTICS

     Several types of fired clay objects can be used to date prehistoric site occupations. Most commonly, chronologically diagnostic ceramics and pottery may be used to determine period of site occupation.  Ceramics and pottery vary stylistically over time, and different stylistic types are indicative of certain time periods. Stylistic attributes of ceramics and pottery include temper composition, surface treatment, decoration, vessel wall thickness, and shape. Other chronologically diagnostic fired clay items are smoking pipes and gaming pieces.

     In Kentucky, prehistoric pottery was manufactured in a number of styles. Table 1 summarizes typical vessel forms, tempering, surface treatment, and decoration for pottery vessels from prehistoric time periods. More detailed descriptions of Woodland and Mississippi period pottery types for western Kentucky are available by clicking on the links to Table 2 and Table 3, respectively (Microsoft Word documents).
 
 

Table 1.  General Prehistoric Pottery Types by Time Period for Kentucky; Data from Railey (1996) and Lewis (1996).

PERIOD	VESSEL FORMS	SURFACE  TREATMENT	TEMPER	STYLISTIC  TYPES
Early Woodland  (1000 - 200 BC)	conoidal jars with narrow flat bases	plain, fabric impressed, and cordmarked surface treatments	tempered with sand, crushed limestone, or other coarsely ground rock	Fayette Thick, Crab Orchard (Baumer)
Middle Woodland (200 BC - AD 500)	conoidal and barrel-shaped jars, jars with thick outflaring rims, tetrapodal vessels	plain, cordmarked, cord-wrapped dowel, fabric impressed, brushed, scratched, and stamped surface treatments; noded or zoned areas with incising, punctating, dentate stamping, and rocker stamping less common	characteristically limestone tempered, although a variety of tempering materials was used	Noded Crab Orchard, Havana Zoned Dentate, Mann
Late Woodland (AD 500 - 900)	subconical or subglobular jars with angular shoulders	stamped, cordmarked, and checked surface treatments	tempers include limestone, grit, and sandstone	Newtown, Sim's Creek
Mississippi (AD 900 - 1550)	jars, bowls, bottles, pans or salt pans, funnels, plates	plain, fabric impressed, cordmarked, incised, stamped, and red filmed surface treatments	tempers include clay grog and shell	Baytown Plain, Mulberry Creek, Cordmarked, Wickliffe Thick, Wolf Creek Check Stamped, McKee Island Cordmarked, Mississippi Plain, Bell Plain, Old Town Red, Kimmswick Fabric Impressed, Crosno Cordmarked

     Other chronologically diagnostic clay objects manufactured by prehistoric inhabitants of Kentucky include smoking pipes and discoids, though both more frequently were made of stone.  Tubular and elbow clay smoking pipes were made during the Late Archaic period (3000 - 1000 BC) and Early Woodland period.  Platform pipes are diagnostic of the Middle Woodland period; many platform pipes are decorated with animal effigies.  Tubular, elbow and human effigy pipes were made during the Mississippi period. Discoids are characteristic of the Mississippi period.

Figure 1. Examples of Tubular (left), Platform (middle), and Effigy (right) Pipes. Drawings of Top and Side Views of Discoidals.

    ASSIGNMENT:  Examine the comparative prehistoric pottery collection in the lab.  Use the comparative materials to identify chronologically diagnostic pottery recovered from Zone II of Hilltopper Shelter.  Record the specimen number, provenience, and likely time period for each pottery artifact.  Repeat for other diagnostic clay objects. Record any other attributes you deem relevant to answering the research questions.

     HISTORIC DIAGNOSTICS

     Historic ceramic types varied over time in terms of paste type, manufacturing technique, and decoration.  Table 4 summarizes ceramic stylistic variation for the historic period in the southeastern United States.
 
 

Table 4.  Historic Ceramic Variation over Time in the Southeastern United States; Data from Miller (1999, personal communication),
Hume (1974), Hughes (1968) Price (1979), Munsey (1970), and Cotter (1968). 

TYPE	TIME RANGES
Pearlware, undecorated	AD 1779 - 1820 (Hume 1974) AD 1779 - 1830 (Miller 1999, personal communication) Pre AD-1890s (Price 1979)
Basalt ware (Egyptian black ware)	AD 1790 - 1846 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Whiteware, purple transfer printed	AD 1810 - 1828 (Hughes 1968) Post AD late 1820s (Price (1979)
Light-colored earthenware,  blue painted or red painted	Post AD 1820s (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Whiteware, general	Post AD 1820s (Price 1979)
Ironstone, green overglaze stippled transfer printed	Post AD 1807 (Miller 1999, personal communication) Post AD 1848 (Cotter 1968)
Ironstone, general	Post AD 1865 (Price 1979)
Stoneware, interior glazing	Post AD 1900 (Munsey 1970)
Salt glazed, scratch brown or scratch blue	AD 1740 - 1760 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Stoneware, red	AD 1770s (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware, mocha decorated	AD 1795 - 1830s (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Yellowware, mocha decorated	AD 1840s - 1904 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, shell edge, rococo	AD 1784 - 1812 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, shell edge, even scallop	AD 1809 - 1831 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, shell edge, even scallop  with bud	AD 1813 - 1834 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, shell edge, plain border,  embossed patterns (wheat and grape, festoon garlands, rope and boughs)	AD 1820s - 1835 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, shell edge, plain border  with impressed design	AD 1841 - 1857 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, shell edge, painted	AD 1874 - 1884 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, edge lined	AD 1790s - 1830s (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Gaudy Dutch	AD 1810 - 1820 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, painted, chrome colors (red)	Post AD 1820s (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, painted,  non-chrome colors (green, brown, yellow)	AD 1795 - 1830 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, painted, chrome colors  (red, green, brown)	AD 1830s - 1865 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, painted, Adams pattern,  king's rows	AD 1830s (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, painted, sprig pattern, brown  or black	AD 1835 - 1865 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, transfer printed, general	Post AD 1753 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, transfer printed, underglaze	Post AD 1784 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Earthenware/stoneware, transfer printed, stippling	Post AD 1807 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Pearlware, transfer printed, brown	AD 1790 - 1830 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Flo blue	Post AD 1840s (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Ironstone (stone china)	Post AD 1813 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
White granite	Post AD 1845 (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Marked hotel wares, general	Post AD 1870s (Miller 1999, personal communication)
Marked hotel wares, transfer printed, underglaze, polychrome	Post AD 1908 (Miller 1999, personal communication)

    Other chronologically diagnostic clay objects manufactured by historic inhabitants of Kentucky include smoking pipes. For clay pipes manufactured in England, the diameter of the bore in the pipe stem decreased in size over time, as summarized in Table 5 (Deetz 1996:28).

    ASSIGNMENT:  Examine the comparative historic ceramic collection in the lab.  Use the comparative materials to identify chronologically diagnostic ceramics recovered from Zone I of Hilltopper Shelter.  Record the specimen number, provenience, and likely time period for each ceramic artifact.  Record any other attributes you deem relevant to answering the research questions. 

SITE FUNCTION

     Fired clay assemblages can be used to identify possible site functions during each.  Keeping in mind the site function interpretive models covered in the site report (Tables 1 and 2), use the fired clay assemblages from each stratigraphic zone to characterize site use and to identify activities that might have occurred at Hilltopper Shelter.

     Pottery vessels (jars, bowls, bottles, pans) usually had utilitarian functions in prehistoric societies.  Such items were used in domestic contexts for storing food items, preparing foods, cooking foods, transporting materials, and making salt. Cooking vessels tend to be thinner than storage vessels. Pans used for evaporating water to produce salt tend to be very wide but shallow.

    Clay pipes were used for smoking plant materials in domestic and ceremonial contexts. Discoids were used for entertainment as they were part of a "stick and ball" game.

    ASSIGNMENT: Using reference materials and comparative collections in the lab, identify the types of pottery functional types from each stratigraphic zone.  Record the specimen number, provenience and functional type for each artifact.  Record any other attributes you deem relevant to answering the research questions.

     Ceramic vessels from historic contexts are often functionally classified based on analogy with modern ceramic functional types.  Typical functional classes and subclasses include table wares (plates, salad bowls, soup bowls, cups), serving wares (serving bowls, turins, platters, tea pots), food preparation wares (mixing bowls, tea pots), storage wares (crocks, decanters), and decorative wares (boxes, vases).

    Clay pipe bowls were used for smoking tobacco and other plant material in domestic contexts. Clay marbles were used for entertainment. Bricks are architectural remains used for the construction of buildings.

    ASSIGNMENT: Using reference materials and comparative collections in the lab, identify the types of ceramic functional types from each stratigraphic zone.  Record the specimen number, provenience and functional type for each artifact.  Record any other attributes you deem relevant to answering the research questions.
 

SITE REPORT

     The results of the pottery and ceramic analyses must be described in the site report. The pottery and ceramic analysis sections usually includes descriptive text, data tables, data figures, quantitative analysis, and line drawings or black-and-white photographs of diagnostic artifacts.

    ASSIGNMENT:  Compose the prehistoric pottery and historic ceramic analysis sections of the final site report. Follow the stylistic format of the existing portions of the site report. Click here for more details.

The lab report for pottery and ceramics is due at the beginning of class time on Monday, October 16.
 

REFERENCES

Cotter, John L. (compiler)
1968 Handbook for Historical Archaeology. Publisher unknown, Philadelphia.

Deetz, James
1996 In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life. Anchor, New York. 

Hughes, George Bernard
1968 Victorian Pottery and Porcelain. Spring Books, London.

Hume, Ivor Noel
1974  Here Lies Virginia: An Archaeologist’s View of Colonial Life and History. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Lewis, R. Barry
1996 Mississippian Farmers. In Kentucky Archaeology, edited by R. Barry Lewis, pp. 127-160. The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington.

Miller, George L.
1999 Personal communication, ceramic workshop. 2nd Annual Meeting of the South Central Historical Archaeology Conference, Memphis, TN.

Munsey, Cecil
1970 The Illustrated Guide to Collecting Bottles. Hawthorn Books, New York.

Nance, J. D.
1974 Ancient Man in Land Between the Lakes. Tennessee Valley Authority, city unknown.

Price, Cynthia R.
1979 19th Century Ceramics … [sic] in the Eastern Ozark Border Region. Center for Archaeological Research, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield.

Railey, James A.
1996 Woodland Cultivators.  In Kentucky Archaeology, edited by R. Barry Lewis, pp. 79-126. The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington.
  

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