Ruby, Bret J. (Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, Indiana University,
Bloomington), Christine M. Shriner (Program in Classical Archaeology, Indiana
University, Bloomington), and Clifford P. Ambers (Department of Geological Sciences,
Indiana University, Bloomington)
SOUTHEASTERN STAMPED CERAMICS AT THE MANN SITE: IDENTIFYING LOCAL AND NON-LOCAL PRODUCTION
The Mann site (12 Po 2) is a large multicomponent complex of mounds, geometric
earthworks and habitation debris located near the confluence of the Wabash and
Ohio Rivers in Posey County, extreme southwestern Indiana. Most of these remains
are the result of a late Middle Woodland Mann phase occupation dating between
about A.D. 100 and A.D. 500. The scale of habitation debris and earthwork construction
has long attracted archaeological interest, as has the recovery of a long list
of exotic raw materials and specific artifact forms reflecting significant participation
in Hopewellian forms of ceremonialism and status differentiation. But one of the
most unique and intriguing aspects of the Mann site material culture is the high
frequency of complicated stamped, simple stamped, and tetrapodal vessels in the
ceramic assemblage. Carved paddle stamped and footed vessels such as these are
commonly found in contemporary assemblages from the southeastern United States,
but are exceedingly rare in the Ohio Valley. For example, only 18 complicated
stamped sherds have been reported from Ohio Valley sites outside of the Mann phase
distribution. In contrast, more than 1,100 complicated stamped sherds have been
recovered during just four seasons of limited test excavation at the Mann site
(Kellar 1979; Rein 1974). The present study used techniques of ceramic petrography
to determine whether or not the complicated stamped and simple stamped ceramics
at the Mann site were locally produced.
In common with Ohio Hopewell ceramics, the Mann site ceramic assemblage as a whole
can be divided into three series: "Utilitarian," "Hopewellian," and "Southeastern''
(see Prufer 1965, 1968). The Utilitarian Series is composed of undecorated plain
and cordmarked vessels and represents about 90% of the total collection. The Hopewellian
Series represents the largest class of decorated vessels in the assemblage, comprising
about 6% of the total collection. This series is defined by a suite of surface
treatments and decorative motifs which have interregional distributions in the
Eastern Woodlands and serve in part to define larger patterns of Hopewellian interaction.
Unzoned rocker stamping is the most common of these motifs at the Mann site, followed
in descending order of frequency by unzoned rocker stamped, incised, zoned stamped,
red filmed, punctated, and brushed surface treatments. The remainder of the Mann
site assemblage is classified within the Southeastern Series. Most of these sherds
are complicated stamped, of which the vast majority display curvilinear motifs,
with rectilinear designs occurring in the minority. Stylistically, these ceramics
are most similar to Early Swift Creek ceramics which are most common in the Georgia
Piedmont and Gulf Coastal Plain. In fact, three of the design motifs documented
at the Mann site are identical to Georgian examples (Kellar 1979; Rein 1974).
Two simple stamped types are also well represented. The most common variety ("fine
simple stamped"), has fine, shallow and closely spaced grooves, often resembling
brushing, and the remaining variety ("coarse simple stamped") has wide lands and
deep grooves. The remainder of the Southeastern Series is represented by tetrapodal
supports on plain, cordmarked, and simple stamped vessels.
A non-random sample of 80 sherds from as many vessels was selected for analysis;
this sample represents the range of variability in macroscopic attributes of surface
treatment, decoration, paste, and temper within each of the Utilitarian, Hopewellian
and Southeastern Series. Standard petrographic thin-sections were prepared for
each of the sherds, and the resulting grindings from each of the sherds were saved
and mounted on glass slides for subsequent x--ray diffraction analysis.
This study departs from the practice followed in most petrographic analyses of
ceramics by incorporating a parallel investigation of reference samples of clay-rich
sediments drawn from the local environment. Samples of clay-rich sediments were
drawn from a variety of geologic settings in the vicinity of the Mann site. Each
of the local sediment samples was formed into bars 20 cm long and 1.2 cm square
and fired in a linear thermal gradient furnace which subjected each bar to increasing
temperature (from ca. 20-1000 degrees C) along its length. Standard petrographic
thin-sections and x-ray diffraction samples were then prepared for each sample.
All of the Utilitarian Series and Hopewellian Series sherds in the sample were
found to share a suite of compositional attributes identified macroscopically,
microscopically, and through x-ray diffraction with those reference samples taken
from the upper four meters of an extensive lacustrine deposit lying beneath and
around the Mann site and fired between 500-800 degrees C. All of the complicated
stamped and coarse simple stamped sherds in the sample fell within this locally
produced group as well. In contrast, the fine simple stamped sherds in the sample
displayed an entirely distinct set of compositional attributes. These were characterized
by an opaque iron oxide-stained matrix and abundant exotic mineral inclusions
including amphibole and epidote. These minerals are characteristic of low- to
medium-grade metamorphic rocks and are unavailable in the local environment. The
most likely source for these exotic mineral inclusions lies in the Blue Ridge
and southern Appalachian Piedmont Provinces.
Previous investigations in the Blue Ridge and southern Appalachian Piedmont Provinces
have suggested that sites associated with the Middle Woodland Connestee phase
were in direct contact with Ohio Hopewell populations between about A.D. 200 and
A.D. 500 (Chapman and Keel 1979; Keel 1976). Primary evidence for this contact
comes in the form of the marked similarities in vessel form, decoration, surface
treatment and temper between Connestee Simple Stamped ceramics (the most common
ceramic type of the phase) and the Turner Simple Stamped B ceramics occasionally
found on Ohio Hopewell sites (Griffin 1983; Keel 1976; Prufer 1965, 1968). All
of these attributes are also shared with the fine simple stamped sherds from the
Mann site. This suggests that the fine simple stamped sherds at the Mann site
were manufactured by Connestee phase populations in the Appalachian Summit area.
The ceramic evidence presented here points to some interesting observations concerning
broader patterns of Hopewellian interaction. As noted above, complicated stamped
ceramics are extremely rare in Ohio Hopewell contexts, and do not appear to be
local products (Prufer 1968). Turner Simple Stamped B ceramics are very rare in
Ohio Hopewell contexts as well: only 134 sherds from eight sites have been documented
(Griffin 1983; Prufer 1968). This suggests that at least in terms of ceramic exchange,
Ohio Hopewell interactions with populations in the Appalachian Summit area and
the Georgia Piedmont and Gulf Coastal Plain (presumably the source of the complicated
stamped sherds from Ohio Hopewell contexts) were sporadic at best, and characterized
by the infrequent northern movement of ceramic vessels. Only about 200 examples
of the fine simple stamped variety have been recovered from the Mann site, suggesting
that this sporadic pattern also characterizes Mann phase interactions with populations
in the Appalachian Summit area.
A very different pattern of Hopewellian interaction with the Southeast is evidenced
by the complicated stamped ceramics at the Mann site. Rather than a pattern of
interaction characterized by the infrequent movement of ceramic vessels, here
we see the local production at the Mann site of substantial numbers of vessels
using Georgian designs.
The significance of these different patterns of interaction remains unclear, but
certainly compromises the concept of a single monolithic Hopewell Interaction
Sphere and suggests that future research must seek to identify the multiple mechanisms
or processes that apparently underlie the extensive distributions of specific
artifact styles and raw materials that we recognize as Hopewellian.
References Cited
Chapman, Jefferson and Bennie C. Keel
1979 Candy Creek-Connestee Components in Eastern Tennessee
and Western North Carolina and Their Relationship with
Adena-Hopewell. In Hopewell Archaeology, edited by
David S. Brose and N'omi Greber, pp. 157-161.
KentState University Press, Kent, Ohio.
Griffin, James B.
1983 The Ceramic Complex. In Recent Excavations at the
Edwin Harness Mound, Liberty Works, Ross County, Ohio,
edited by N'omi Greber, pp. 39-53. Kirtlandia Vol. 39.
Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland.
Keel, Bennie C.
1976 Cherokee Archaeology: A Study of the Appalachian Summit.
University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville.
Kellar, James H.
1979 The Mann Site and "Hopewell" in the Lower Wabash-Ohio Valley.
In Hopewell Archaeology, edited by David S. Brose and
N'omi Greber, pp. 100-107. Kent State University Press,
Kent, Ohio.
Prufer, Olaf H.
1965 The McGraw Site: A Study in Hopewellian Dynamics.
Scientific Publications, New Series 4(1). Cleveland
Museum of Natural History, Cleveland.
1968 Ohio Hopewell Ceramics: An Analysis of the Extant
Collections. University of Michigan, Museum of Anthropology,
Anthropological Papers No. 63, Ann Arbor.
Rein, Judith S.
1974 The Complicated Stamped Pottery of the Mann Site,
Posey County, Indiana.Unpublished Master's thesis,
Department of Anthropology, Indiana University,
Bloomington.
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