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Let the arrow hover over the illustration for type name and collection information. When you think you have a match, check the Georgia Indian Pottery site for the geographical distribution and other details to be sure you’re right.
This type was defined by Hale G. Smith in 1948 and commented on by John Goggin in 1952. Goggin stated that this type is usually tempered with sand in Florida, but in the area of St. Augustine it may be sand or limestone or a combination of the two. Mark Williams reported that the same material, called Altamaha in Georgia, is tempered with grit. The paddle-made check stamping on this type is fine-lined, small in size and shallow. Vessel exteriors are well smoothed and sometimes painted red. Decoration is sometimes obliterated and often crude. Folded rims are sometimes marked with reed punctations. Known vessel forms include large, deep, round-bottom jars with a constricted area below a flaring rim. Spanish “soup plate” forms are also known. A Spanish type ring foot is found on some forms. Smith (1948) gives a date of 1686 for simple stamping with other forms of decoration peaking sometime before that period (Goggin).
This type is found in late 17th century mission sites near St. Augustine and northward along the Florida and Georgia coastline. It also occurs in north central Florida and near Tallahassee in the region of the Spanish mission system.
[i] Goggin, John M., Space and Time Perspective in Northern St. Johns Archaeology, Florida, Yale University Press, 1952, p.110
Jacky Fuller collection
This type was named by Joseph Caldwell in 1955. Caldwell’s report was part of his survey of the Allatoona Reservoir in Cherokee County, Georgia. Medium sized grit particles were used as temper in this type. Past is gray to black or white in color. Gray hues result from firing in a reduced-oxygen atmosphere. Decoration consists of deep check stamping may have a slight hump in the center of the check. Vessel forms include globular jars with flattened bottoms and flaring rims. Rims have an appliqué strip with finger-notching along the edge. This is Historic period pottery that was made by the Cherokee people living in northwestern Georgia in the late 1700’s after the Revolutionary War.
This type ranges from northwestern Georgia into western South Carolina (earlier), southeastern Tennessee and northeastern Alabama.
Caldwell, Joseph R. Cherokee Pottery from Northern Georgia. American Antiquity 20(2)
Bruce Butts collection, Wayne Porch collection
The type was named by Joseph Caldwell and Antonio Waring in the 1930’s.[i] The name Deptford Bold Check was essentially dropped by the 1960’s. The type was named for the Deptford site in Chatham County, Georgia. This is the same as Cartersville Check Stamped north of Georgia’s Fall Line. Sand is more often used for temper in Florida and southern Georgia while grit was used elsewhere. The entire surface of the vessel is covered with check stamping. Stamps are generally square or slightly rectangular and clearly stamped. Some stamping was purposely obliterated after stamping. Deptford pottery is usually deep, straight-sided jars with rounded or flattened rims. Vessels often have short, stamped tetropodal legs. Deptford pottery is part of the Middle Woodland period.
Deptford pottery is found over a wide range from the South Carolina Coast across Georgia and parts of eastern Tennessee and eastern Alabama and northern Florida as far south as the Tampa Bay area. North of Georgia’s Fall Line it is known as Cartersville Check Stamped, but the pottery is the same as Deptford pottery.
Williams, Mark. Georgia Indian Pottery web site, University of Georgia
Wayne Porch collection
Joseph Caldwell and Antonio Waring named this type in 1939.[i] Caldwell and Waring named this type at the Deptford site in Chatham County, Georgia. Sand or grit was used as tempering. Linear Check stamping over the entire exterior surface of the vessel. Lines of checks are separated by wide margins to form a “rail road track” appearance. Vessels were usually deep, straight-sided jars with rounded or flattened rims. Vessels often have short, stamped podal legs. Deptford pottery is part of the Middle Woodland period.
Deptford pottery is found over a wide range from the South Carolina Coast across Georgia and parts of eastern Tennessee and eastern Alabama and northern Florida as far south as the Tampa Bay area. North of Georgia’s Fall Line it is known as Cartersville Check Stamped, but the pottery is the same as Deptford pottery.
Caldwell, Joseph R., and Antonio J. Waring, Deptford Linear Check Stamped (Southeastern Archaeological Conference, News Letter, vol. 1, no. 5, p.4, Lexington, Ky.)
Scott Kieth (this is not a named type in Georgia, but rather it has been noted at the Leake site and referred to by this name. The type is also known from the Mann site. Sand was used as temper. Check stamping was distributed over most of the vessel surface or may be limited to the rim area. Vessel forms are unknown. This pottery belongs to the Middle Woodland, Hopewell period and is only known from the Leak site in northwestern Georgia.
This type was named by Joseph Caldwell in 1950. Caldwell did his research within the Allatoona Reservoir area. This pottery type was named for old the Galt’s Ferry over the Etowah River in Cherokee County, Georgia. This is a grit-tempered pottery type. The paste color ranges from gray to black rather than tan or brown. Decoration on this type consists of check stamping designs that are carelessly done. Known vessel forms include at least a cylindrical jar with expanding rim and rounded lips. The bottom is flat and round. This is a historic Cherokee pottery dating between the 1700 and 1800’s.
This type might be recovered from any of the Cherokee sites dating after 1700 in northwestern Georgia, western South Carolina, southeastern Tennessee and northeastern Alabama.
Williams, Mark. Georgia Indian Pottery web site
Early (left) Late (right)
Gordon Willey named this type in 1949. This type name was dropped by SEAC in 1968. Willey’s research stemmed from sites along the Florida Gulf Coast, apparently between St. Andrews and Appalachee Bays. The type is rare and hard to identify. Fine Sand or mica was used as temper. Much of the sands of these areas has mica present in the sand, which may account for Willey’s inclusion as a tempering agent. Check stamping is carefully done with little over-stamping, more than any other check stamped type in Florida. Forms are Jars with out-slanting rims and slightly out flared rims. Lips were rounded or flat and unmodified except for a trifling extrusion of paste on exterior surface; or scallops or notches made by pressing a cylindrical tool onto the top of the lip. Notches or scallops vary from 1 to 5 cm. Willey assigned this type to the Middle Woodland, Deptford period and into Santa Rosa Swift Creek period.
The type is found in the Santa Rosa hearth area of the northwest Florida coast between St. Andrews Bay and Appalachee Bay.
Willey, Gordon R., Archaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast, Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, 1949, p.387 Gordon R., Archaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast, Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, 1949, p.429
Gordon Willey named this type in 1949.[i] Willey later defined it from sites along the northwestern coastal sites of Florida as Leon Check Stamped in 1949. Brent Wiseman later named this type as a sub-type of Jefferson Check Stamped in 1992.[ii] Willey’s research for this type took place in sites along the northwestern Florida coast. Wiseman did his research at the Fig Springs Mission site in Columbus County, Florida. Sand or course grit was used as temper for this type. The core of the past is black while the fired surface is buff. Impressions of checked stamping can be low and faint while others are deeper and clearer. Stamped designs are also sometimes partially obliterated. The stamped squares are larger than most, averaging 1 cm. square. Stamping may appear as a square or diamond shaped. The vessel rims or collars are sometimes decorated with fingernail punctations. Vessels have out-flared rims with round-pointed lips, but the overall form is unknown. This pottery belongs to the 17th Century, Leon-Jefferson period. It is found as a minority type in Fort Walton sites in northwestern Florida.
The type is found throughout northwest Florida, but it range is centered in Leon and Jefferson counties. Occasionally this type is found in the central Gulf Coast region of Florida and also extends into southwestern Georgia.
Willey, Gordon R., Archaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast, Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, 1949, p.491
Wiseman, Brent, Excavations on the Franciscan Frontier. University Press of Florida, 1992, p.200
SEAC Collections
RESEARCH: This type has been renamed a number of time as more has been learned about its history. It was originally defined by John Griffin and Charles Fairbanks in 1953 as Ocmulgee Check Stamped at the Ocmulgee National Monument. The type was defined in conjunction with the discovery of the trading post at Ocmulgee. It was later discovered that this pottery had been originally made by people who had migrated to the Macon area from Alabama. Joseph Caldwell redefined it as Ocmulgee Fields Check Stamped and this is the recommended name today.
TEMPER: This is a grit-tempered pottery.
SURFACE DECORATION: The surfaces of the vessels are check stamped with a broad line bordering each check mark. The entire surface of the vessel is covered except for a plain rim area or a fold around the rim.
VESSEL FORM: Vessel forms seem to be a deep jar with slightly constricted neck and rounded shoulders. The rims are slightly flaring and are sometimes folded. The lower edge of the rim is finger-pinched. The lips are rounded and the bases are rounded.
CHRONOLOGY: This pottery belongs to the late 1600’s and early 1700’s and was present at the trading posts during the middle part of the fur trade era. Associated point types include the Kaskaskia point.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: This type has been known in and around the area of Macon, Georgia and was believed to have been slightly more widely distributed. Recent discoveries of examples along the eastern bank of the Oconee River and as far east as Ocmulgee Old Town have shown a much wider distribution than previously thought.
University of Georgia collections
RESEARCH: This is believed to be (by Chester DePratter 1991) an very early form of Deptford Check Stamped pottery. The type was named for the Oemler site in Chatham County, Georgia.
TEMPER: This pottery type has a sand-tempered paste.
SURFACE DECORATION: The surface of this type is covered with small rhomboid, diamond or rectangular check shapes. The entire surface was covered with stamping.
VESSEL FORM: Vessels are cylindrical jars with rounded bases. The rims are straight to slightly flaring or sometimes sharply everted. The lips are rounded or squared and often form a broad, flat lip.
CHRONOLOGY: These vessels belong to the Early Woodland period. Associated points include Hernando, Yadkin, and Greenville points.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: Oemler pottery is known along the northern Georgia and southern South Carolina coast and inland up the Savannah River Valley for an unknown distance.
Lloyd Schroder collection
This type was named by Tom Lewis and Madeline Kneberg in 1946. Named for the Overhill Cherokee of the 18th century, this type is found along the Little Tennessee and upper Hiwassee Rivers in eastern Tennessee and perhaps extreme northern Georgia. Coarsely crushed shell or occasionally coarse grit served as temper for this type. Grit-tempered examples may be slightly earlier than the shell-tempered examples. Check stamping decorated this type extending over the entire vessel surface. Known vessel forms include vertical jar rims and incurved or flared bowl rims. Rims are also sometimes notched. Shell tempered examples date to the mid 1700’s as Cherokee pottery. The grit tempered examples are thought to be somewhat earlier as well as contemporaneous with shell tempered examples.
The majority of this type of pottery is found in along the Little Tennessee and upper Hiwassee Rivers of eastern Tennessee. Possibly also found in extreme northern Georgia, northeastern Alabama and western South and North Carolina.
Lewis, Thomas M.N. and Madeline Kneberg. Hiwassee Island An Archaeological Account of Four Tennessee Indian Peoples, University of Tennessee Press, 1946
Wayne Porch collection
RESEARCH: David Chase defined this type from his work at the Miner’s Creek site in Decalb County. This is an enigmatic and elusive type found at only a handful of Middle Woodland sites, either big Hopewellian centers (including Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, Georgia, and Florida) as well as at a group of Swift Creek sites in the Atlanta area.
TEMPER: This pottery has a grit-tempered paste.
SURFACE DECORATION: Check stamping is shallow and poorly defined. Checks are large, measuring nearly 1 cm square. Georgia examples are made with the Swift Creek/Cartersville pottery technological tradition.
VESSEL FORM: Sherds suggest medium sized globular jars with straight sides.
CHRONOLOGY: This type belongs to the Middle Woodland, Swift Creek period. Related point types are spike points, Woodland Triangular, Baker’s Creek, Camp Creek, Swan Lake, Copena, Yadkin, and Greenville points.
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION: The suspected distribution of this type is within northwestern Georgia from the Etowah River valley to Atlanta.
Wayne Porch Collection
This type was defined by Joseph Caldwell and Antonio Waring in 1939 from the excavations at the Irene site.[i] The type was named for the Savannah River and the city of Savannah, Georgia. The grit used in this type as temper ranges from fine to coarse. The surface can be fine to coarse and is usually sandy. The core color ranges from buff to dark gray and is often the same as the surface. The exterior color can be buff, red, light brown or dark gray. The interior surfaces are smoothed and sometimes burnished. The check stamping on this type was done with a paddle. The checks are square or diamond in shape and are small, measuring 3 to 6mm in size. Stamping is carefully done but sometimes appears faint. Over-stamping is rare and generally occurs on vessel bottoms. Check Stamping cover all or most of the vessel, sometimes leaving the rim area plain. Double rows of reed punctations, sometimes with nodes, may appear in the rim area. The known vessel form is a globular jar with a rounded base. Rims usually flare, but can be everted, straight, or rarely in-curving. Folded rims are known, but seem to appear late in the type period. These seem to have been done after the stamping was complete and were polished or smoothed. Lips are squared, stamped beveled, or sometimes rounded. This type belongs to the Middle Mississippian, Savannah period.
Williams has suggested that this type is found over the entire state of Georgia. It occurs at least in areas indicated in north Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and perhaps Alabama.
Williams, Stephen, The Waring Papers, The Collected Works of Antonio J. Waring, Jr., Papers of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. Vol. 58, 1977
Lloyd Schroder collection
The St. Johns series of pottery was defined by James B. Griffin in 1945 and further commented on by John Goggin in 1952 from his work in sites along the St. Johns River, for which this series is named, and throughout south Florida where the name Biscayne ware had been used by Willey in 1949. St. Johns pottery is tempered with diatomaceous earth or soft silky clay that has microscopic fresh water sponge spicules in it that act as temper. The sherds of pottery have a soft, chalky texture, referred to as “chalky ware” as early as 1891, so that the ware can be recognized by feel alone. There was an increasing amount of sand in sherds of this type from late St. Johns II sites. Check stamping on this type usually covered the entire vessel. Execution ranges from neat to sloppy, blurred and overlapping. Check sizes are not consistent. Interior sites tend to be earlier and have consistently sized, smaller and neater stamping while coastal sites tend to be later with larger and sloppier stamping. Simple incising often accompanies stamping. Vessels are large bowls and some large vessels with conoidal bottoms and out-flaring rims. This type appears no earlier than the Late Woodland, St. Johns II period and diminishes during Goggin’s St. Augustine horizon about A.D. 1600.
This type is known primarily from northeastern Florida, but is known in the Tampa Bay and central coast area. It appears in southeastern Georgia as far north as Savannah Georgia and west to Valdosta.
[i] Goggin, John M., Space and Time Perspective in Northern St. Johns Archaeology, Florida, Yale University Press, 1952, p.90-105
This is a Swannanoa Plain bowl that demonstrates the check stamped form
Originally named the Early series by Patricia Holden, this was renamed as the Swannanoa series by Keel in 1976 based on his work in Cherokee related sites in North and South Carolina.[i] The type is named after the Swannanoa River. This type is tempered with large pieces of crushed quartz (56%) or with coarse sand. The tempering material in either case accounts for nearly half of the paste material. The exterior color of the fired paste is red to reddish-brown or light brown. The surface of the vessel is covered with check stamping. The squares are large and shallow, measuring an average of 7 X 9mm. Stamping is poorly executed. Known vessel forms include large to medium sized conoidal jars and hemispherical bowls. The rims are vertical or slightly inverted and the lips are rounded or flattened, with a very small percentage notched or cord-marked. The bases are conical, some with a nipple-like protrusion; or are jars and are rounded to slightly flattened on bowls. This is the earliest Woodland pottery series in western North Carolina, dating to the Early to Middle Woodland period.
This type is found in western North Carolina, western South Carolina and, perhaps, extreme northeastern Georgia.
Keel, Bennie C., Cherokee Archaeology, A Study of the Appalachian Summit, The University of Tennessee Press, 1976, p. 260
(Left) Sherd from Tampa, Florida, (Right) Sherd from Clinch County, Georgia
Gordon Willey defined this type from sites along the Florida Gulf Coast in 1949. The temper for this type seems to break into three divisions. The first division used fine sand just as the Weeden Island pottery did. The next division used much coarser sand (above right) with rust or buff exterior. The final division used only a small amount of fine sand or diatomaceous earth (above left) with a modeled buff or gray exterior. Decoration was done with light lands of a check or cross-groove designed paddle. Checks are relatively small and cover the entire surface of the vessel. Folded or simple rims are stamped to the lip of the rim. Vessel forms include flattened globular bowls, bowls with incurved rims, deep bowls with out-slanting rims, pots and jars with long and short collars. Rims are in-curved, out-slanted, straight, slightly inverted or out-slanted. Folded rims are often present. This type dates to the Late Woodland, Weeden Island II period.
This type was defined during WPA excavations in the 1930’s and reported on by Caryn Hollingsworth in 1991.[i]Hollingsworth’s research was in the Wheeler Basin on the Tennessee River in north central Alabama. This type is tempered with a combination of plant fiber and limestone. Hollingsworth listed this type as a clay (grog) tempered type suggesting that the earlier vessels used as temper may have been limestone tempered. Surface decoration consists of check stamping that is often rhomboid in shape and smoothed over. While no complete vessels have been recovered for this type, the shapes probably reflected those used in earlier steatite vessels as deep bowls. This pottery dates from the Late Archaic to Early Woodland period. Pottery with dentate marking is more common on Wheeler pottery that dates later than Plain and Punctated types. Wheeler types have traditionally been looked at as later than Stallings or Orange types.
The type is known from northern Alabama, eastern and central Tennessee and northwestern Georgia.
[i] Hollingsworth, Caryn Y. Ceramic Descriptions and Discussion, Journal of Alabama Archaeology Vol. 37, p.101
Wesley Hurt defined this pottery from his work in surveying the Walter F. George Reservoir in east-central Alabama.[i]The type was named for Wilson Creek in Houston County, Alabama. This is the same as Wakulla Check Stamped pottery. This was a coiled pottery type that was tempered with fine to medium quartz sand or grit. The surface texture is sometimes gritty and varies from reddish-buff to gray in color. The core may be gray to dark gray. The interior surface is smooth and sandy to well smoothed. Decoration on this type was done with a check stamped pattern and a carved wooden paddle. The pattern is often carelessly stamped and overlapped with lands that are parallel or oblique to the rim. Design variations do not seem to be spatial, but are found together on the same sites. Checks are not as deeply stamped as Deptford examples and are small and well stamped on some examples that resemble Wakulla stamping. Other sherds show careless or incomplete stamping, or may resemble a smaller version of Deptford Linear stamping. One example had an incised line below the rim. Vessels are globular or deep jars with conical bases. One example had podal supports. Both flaring and incurved rims are known. Lips can be tapered, beveled or may have interior or exterior folds that may be rounded or everted when externally folded. The bottom of the external fold may also be scalloped. Wilson Check Stamped pottery appears to be related to the Wakulla Check Stamped pottery that dominated the area during the Late Woodland, Weeden Island II period.
Wilson Check Stamped pottery has been recovered along the central Chattahoochee River Valley in both Alabama and Georgia.
Hurt, Wesley R. Jr., The Preliminary Archaeological Survey of the Chattahoochee Valley Area in Alabama. In Archaeological Salvage in the Walter F. George Basin of the Chattahoochee River in Alabama, edited by David L. DeJarnette. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, 1975
University of Georgia collections
The Wilmington series was defined by Joseph Caldwell in 1952. The type was named for Wilmington Island, one of several islands investigated by Caldwell along the northern Georgia coast where the type had been recovered. Wilmington pottery is clay or grog tempered. It is difficult to distinguish crushed dry raw clay from crushed and reused pot sherds. The temper appears as angular lumps in the paste. These lumps will be evident as protruding from the interior walls of Wilmington pottery. The entire surface of the vessels is covered with check stamping. The impressions are clear, but appear rough due to the crude finishing of the vessel walls and the large grog fragments. Known vessel shapes are cylindrical jars and hemispherical bowls. Rims are straight, occasionally slightly flaring. Lips are rounded or carelessly squared. Bases are round to slightly conoidal. This pottery is part of the Late Woodland, Wilmington II period. Related point types are Woodland Triangular, Baker’s Creek, spike forms, Yadkin, and Copena points.
Wilmington pottery has been recovered from the northern Georgia and southern South Carolina coast. It does not go far into the interior at any point.
The combined research of Robert Wauchope and Joseph Caldwell identified the Woodstock site in Cherokee County, Georgia and named the type, however documentation of their work has subsequently been lost.[i] The type was named after the town of Woodstock, Georgia. This type is tempered with either sand or grit. The paste is usually gray in color, but may be a dark tan. Decoration on this type consists of check stamping. The site should also contain Woodstock Complicated pottery for positive identification. Known vessel forms include cylindrical beakers with out-curving or in-curving rims, globular jars, bowls with flaring or straight walls, deep pots with straight, out-slanting walls that turn upward below the lip. Lips are flat or rounded. Rims may also be scalloped with a broad, shallow notching. This type belongs to the Late Woodland, Woodstock period.
This type is found in northwestern Georgia and may appear in eastern Alabama.
Williams, Mark. Georgia Indian Pottery web site
William Haag named this type in northern Alabama in 1939.[i] The type is named for the town of Wright, Alabama. This type is tempered with crushed limestone. The paste is gray to tan in color. Decoration on this pottery consists of check stamping over the entire surface of the vessel. Some later examples may include an applique strip that has been fingernail-notched and the addition of other Late Woodland stamped designs such as the pine tree-like stamp of the Woodstock Complicated Stamped type above (left). Known vessel forms include deep bowls or globular jars with folded rims or with a line under the rim. Later examples may include a fingernail-notched applique strip. This type dates to the Middle Woodland and Late Woodland periods. Alabama archaeologists see this type as an extension of the Deptford ceramics in central Alabama.
The type can be found in northeastern and central Alabama, southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia.
[i] 1939 Pottery Type Descriptions. Southeastern Archaeological Conference Newsletter 1(1).
