POTTERY

 

 

A transition that marked the beginning of the Fort Ancient period (A.D. 1000) was the replacement of crushed rock with crushed mussel shell as pottery temper along with the creation of a new vessel forms.  Temper is a clay additive that increases the strength of finished pottery.  This change in temper made vessels more durable and able to withstand stress from constant heating and cooling from cooking (Burks 2000).  Fort Ancient vessels generally had globular shapes with rounded bottoms and shoulders (Potter 1968).  The vessels were used for storage, for ceremonial activities, and for cooking, especially starchy seeds that require cooking to release their entire component of nutrients (Burks 2000). 

 

Pottery production can be broken down into five main steps (Burks, 2000):

1.  Finding the raw material.                       

2.  Cleaning and preparing the raw material.

3.  Building the vessel.                               

4.  Drying the vessel.                                 

5.  Firing the vessel.                                  

 
 

The technique used by Fort Ancient people to make their pottery was coiling.  This method involved rolling the clay into long, rounded strips. These strips or coils were stacked on one another to produce the overall shape of a vessel.  The coils were then smoothed using a round stone (anvil) placed on the inside of the vessel and using a wooden paddle on the outside (Burks 2000).  The pottery also had a variety of decoration styles, such as cord-marking (Figure 6).  Decoration found on the rim and neck of the vessels includes incised lines and notches.  A series of interlocking lines, called guilloche, are found on some of pottery (Figure 1).  The origin of this design is unknown, but it emerged suddenly in the Middle Ohio Valley at the beginning of the Fort Ancient culture.  Though there were standards to vessel-forming and decorating, these vessels were individually hand made so each vessel would have unique variation in production, form and decoration. 

 

Figure 1.  Shell-tempered pottery fragment with guilloche and cordmarking.

 

Figure 2.  Shell-tempered pottery fragment with guilloche design.

 

   The pieces of pottery in Figure 1 and 2 were part of the rim of a vessel (notice the rounded top edges).  The white specks on these pieces are visible pieces of shell temper, and the decorative lines on the pieces in Figure 1 and 2 are examples of guilloche.  Some people speculate that the interlocking lines, or guilloche, represent waves.  However, the lines in Figure 1 vary from those in Figure 2.  Is this a stylistic variation between pottery makers? What, if anything, do these lines represent?  Does this design indicate that this vessel was used ceremonially?  Or is this just a variation of a design that was used to decorate cooking vessels?

 

The piece of pottery in Figure 3 is also part of the rim of a shell-tempered vessel.  This piece is decorated with incised lines, made by etching the pottery with a stick or piece of stone.  However, the placement of lines is different from the guilloche pattern.  Yet, both the guilloche pattern and the pattern on the pottery piece in Figure 3 have downward sloping lines.  Is this similarity significant? Did this design indicate anything or is it just another personal variation?

 

Figure 3.  Shell-tempered pottery

fragment with incised design.

Figure 4.  Fort Ancient pottery

handles.

 

In the Early period of the Fort Ancient culture, pottery handles or lugs were used for the first time.  This was also the first time handles were used in the entire Middle Ohio Valley area; the handle types that were used are straps and loops (Figure 4).  Straps are flat broad pieces that were attached vertically to the vessel with one end on the lip and the other on the shoulder, and loops are smaller and cylindrical and are fastened to vessels the same way as strap handles are (Potter 1968).  The use of strap handles persisted throughout the Middle and Late Fort Ancient periods.  Handles can be used to identify the relative age of pottery—triangular shaped strap handles were made during the later Fort Ancient Periods (Turnbow and Henderson 1992).

 

The pieces of pottery in Figure 5 are fragments from the body of a cord-marked vessel.  Cord-marking was produced by wrapping a twisted cord around the paddle during manufacture.  As the pottery maker used the paddle and anvil to mesh the coils together and refine the vessel, the cord made an impression in the clay.

 

  

Figure 5.  Cord-marked pottery sherds

 

Figure 6.  Undecorated rim sherds

and one rim sherd with a guilloche design.

 

 

Sherds that lack decoration are classified as "plain."  Undecorated or plain rim sherds like those in Figure 6 are found just as frequently if not more frequently than decorated rim sherds.  Could this support the idea that highly decorated vessels were ceremonial and plain vessels were utilitarian?  Or were designs a trademark of the pottery maker?  Or are undecorated rims simply undecorated sections of decorated pots?

As nice as large pieces of pottery are, they are rarely recovered during excavation.  Most pottery sherds are small like those in Figure 7.  Yet, there is always the hope, however unlikely, that a whole vessel will be found.  Or at least there is the expectation that some of the fragments of pottery found can be glued together to make a whole vessel.

 

Figure 7.  Small shell tempered

pottery sherds (plain and cord-marked).
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