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It is our hope that the pictures and descriptions in this section will assist you in discovering the identity of your pottery sherds and the history behind them. If you are unable to identify your finds from this list, please feel free to contact me (Lloyd Schroder – see CONTACT US) with pictures of your discoveries and information regarding their general location. The pictures should include a clear picture of surface decoration, rim structure (if possible), the interior of the vessel, and a cross-section of the sherd. I will make every effort to respond as quickly as possible to your requests.
Dr. Jim Tatum collection
This type was defined by Hale G. Smith in 1948 and commented on by John Goggin in 1952.[i]
John 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 complicated stamping on this type is fine-lined, and shallow. Vessel exteriors are well smoothed and sometimes painted red. Decoration is sometimes obliterated and often crude and over stamped (referred to as “malleated” in Georgia). 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.
Smith (1948) gives a date of 1686 for simple stamping with other forms of decoration peaking sometime before that period (Goggin). The related point types are brass Kaskaskia points.
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.
Goggin, John M., Space and Time Perspective in Northern St. Johns Archaeology, Florida, Yale University Press, 1952, p.110
Wayne Porch collection, Gordon Willey Pl. 19 a
Gordon R. Willey named this type in 1949.[i] Willey’s research was from sites along the northwestern Florida coast.
Fine Sand containing mica was used for temper. The Surfaces are usually buff with fire-clouding. Occasionally the surfaces appear entirely gray to black. Interiors are smooth to nearly polished.
The design is made of stamped rectilinear zigzag lines or chevrons. These chevrons are continuous down the sides or around the body of the vessel. They are very close-spaced. The design differs from a “herringbone” motif in that there are no lines connecting the angles of the nested chevrons. Angle of chevrons varies from slightly acute to very obtuse. Overlapping of the design is fairly common.
Known forms are pots with a slightly out-flared orifice. Rims are slightly out-flaring and lips are scalloped or notched.
Crooked River (early) pottery belongs to the Middle Woodland, Santa Rosa Swift Creek period.
Examples are known from the northwest coast of Florida, particularly around Carrabelle and eastward. In Georgia the type has been found as far as the Atlantic coastline.
[i] Willey, Gordon R. and Philip Phillips. Negative Painted Pottery from Crystal River, Florida. American Antiquity 10 (2):173-383.
Gordon Willey named this time in 1949.[i] This later type is found along the same general locations as the early type in Florida and Georgia.
Unlike the early variety that was tempered with fine sand, the tempering during this period was coarse sand or grit and produced a much rougher surface texture.
The stamping appears the same except that it is more poorly done.
Vessel forms are unknown except that the stamping does not go all the way to the rim, presenting a pseudo-rim and the lip was probably not scalloped.
This later variety appears in the Weeden Island I period.
The later variety of Crooked River Complicated Stamped is found in the same general location as the early variety except that it is found in later sites.
[i] Willey, Gordon R. and Philip Phillips. Negative Painted Pottery from Crystal River, Florida. American Antiquity 10 (2):173-435.
University of Georgia collections, Fernbank Museum of Natural History collections
This type was defined by William Sears in 1958.[i] This type is known from the Etowah Mound complex located on the Etowah River in northwestern Georgia, but was spread over most of Georgia and surrounding areas by the Etowah people.
This is a grit-tempered pottery type.
A wide variety of paddle-stamped designs were used to decorate this type, but the diamond design was the most dominant. Other designs included concentric hexagonal shapes with pairs of lines crossed through them, nested diamonds, lined-blocks, filfot crosses, nested squares, and a wide variety of less frequently occurring motifs.
Known Etowah vessel forms include wide-mouth conoidal jars, globular jars, bowls, and cylindrical vases. Rims were flared, vertical, out-curved, or in-sloping.
The Etowah type belongs to the Middle Mississippian, Etowah period.
This type originated at the Etowah site in northwestern Georgia but was spread in small quantities by the Etowah people throughout Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and probably western South Carolina.
[i] Sears, William, The Wilbanks Site (9CK-5), Georgia. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 169:129-194. Washington, D.C. 1958
University of Georgia collection
This complicated stamp design identified by Joseph Caldwell during his work at the Allatoona Reservoir in the late 1940s was a common design during the Etowah period and was often a design propagated into other areas by the Etowah people.[i] This type is known from the Etowah Mound complex located on the Etowah River in northwestern Georgia, but was spread over most of Georgia and surrounding areas by the Etowah people.
This is a grit-tempered pottery type.
Decoration on this type consists of sets of several parallel lines intersecting at a 90 degree angle with other equally long sets of parallel lines, typically called block stamping.
Known Etowah vessel forms include wide-mouth conoidal jars, globular jars, bowls, and cylindrical vases. Rims were flared, vertical, out-curved, or in-sloping.
The Etowah type belongs to the Middle Mississippian, Etowah period.
This type originated at the Etowah site in northwestern Georgia but was spread in small quantities by the Etowah people throughout Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and probably western South Carolina.
Williams, Mark. Georgia Indian Pottery web site
Galt vessel form
This type was named by Joseph Caldwell in 1950.[i] Caldwell did his research within the Allatoona Reservoir area. The type was named for old the Galt’s Ferry over the Etowah River in CherokeeCounty, Georgia
This is a grit-tempered pottery type. The paste color ranges from gray to black rather than tan or brown.
The decoration of this type consists of complicated stamping with a variety of designs that are poorly done. Positive identification of this type requires that it be recovered with sherds of the check stamped variety.
Known vessel forms include at least a cylindrical jar with expanding rim and rounded lips and flat round bottoms.
This is a historic Cherokee pottery type 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
Private collection
Joseph Caldwell named this type in 1969.[i] Caldwell named this type after the Hares Landing site that is now at the bottom of Lake Seminole along the lower Chattahoochee River.
This type is tempered with sand. The type is believed to b the last form of Swift Creek Complicated Stamped pottery, which shares the same tempering material.
Decoration for this type includes large, flat designs with little variation. The rims are very wide and folded.
Known vessel forms are large, cylindrical jars and medium globular Jars.
This type is assigned to the Late Woodland period.
Distribution for this type is along the Lower Chattahoochee River valley, possibly in a limited range that includes Florida and Georgia, the two states that surround Lake Seminole.
Williams, Mark. Georgia Indian Pottery web site
Scot Keith Leake site report
This type was recovered at the Leake site in Bartow County, Georgia from a Swift Creek context. The stamping appears to be typical Swift Creek Complicated Stamped that is then partially obliterated by rolling a section of crinoid stem over the surface, leaving the small parallel lines on across the surface.
(Left) Ocmulgee National Monument collections, (Center) Gordon Willey 1949 Pl.54 A, (Right 2) Square Ground design
James Ford and Arthur Kelly recognized Lamar pottery in 1934, but in was not formally named until Jesse Jennings and Charles Fairbanks defined and named it in 1939. Willey discussed its presence in Florida in 1949. Research by Ford and Kelly was done at the Lamar site in Bibb County, Georgia while Willey illustrated jars from the Parish Mounds near Tampa Bay, Florida.
Grit is consistently used in Georgia and surrounding states to the north while vessels from Florida occasionally used sand as temper.
The complicated curvilinear and some rectilinear design elements are impressions of carved paddle or stamping unit. The Florida specimens from the Parish Mounds (right) show a circle-and-dot and a complicated connected-rectangle design. A variant designed named “Square Ground” by Frankie Snow has a central dot with straight lines radiating out from it in four directions.
Vessels are jar forms that are slightly constricted below the orifice. Bases are rounded. Rims are folded or an appliqué strip is added and pinched or crimped.
Lamar stamped pottery dates to the Late Mississippian, Lamar period in Georgia, but Lamar is contemporary with Fort Walton pottery. Along the coast of Georgia, Lamar (Irene) stamped pottery continued longer. Florida Gulf coast occurrences are in the Safety Harbor periods.
Lamar Complicated Stamped is found throughout most of Georgia and into adjacent Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. Similar types are seen in North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. In Florida it occurs as far south as Tampa Bay. Eastern extensions in Florida are not well known, but probably occur there only as trade if at all.
(Left) Private collection, (Right) Bruce Butts collection
This is essentially the same pottery that David Hally defined as Lamar Coarse Plain. Joseph Caldwell defined this type in 1950.[i] Caldwell’s research was during his survey of the Altoona Reservoir.
This pottery is tempered with coarse grit particles.
Lamar pottery that has been stamped is usually poorly done. This type, like the Lamar Coarse Plain type, has been poorly stamped, but has also had the stamping obliterated by being rubbed out, usually in the mid section of the vessel. Stamping may still be visible along the rim and near the bottom of the vessel.
Vessels are jar forms that are slightly constricted below the orifice. Bases are rounded. Rims are folded or an appliqué strip is added and pinched or crimped.
Lamar stamped pottery dates to the Late Mississippian, Lamar period in Georgia, but Lamar is contemporary with Fort Walton pottery. Along the coast of Georgia, Lamar (Irene) stamped pottery continued longer. Florida Gulf coast occurrences are in the Safety Harbor periods.
Lamar Complicated Stamped is found throughout most of Georgia and into adjacent Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. Similar types are seen in North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. In Florida it occurs as far south as Tampa Bay, but these occurrences may be only the result of trade. Eastern extensions in Florida are not well known but probably also occurs there only as trade if at all.
Caldwell, Joseph, A Preliminary Report on Excavations in the Allatoona Reservoir. Early Georgia , 1950, 1(1):5-22.
(Top) Dr. Jim Tatum collection, (Bottom) Gordon Willey 1949 Fig.68 h & i
This type was originally named Jefferson Complicated Stamped by Hale Smith in 1951. Since that time it has been known as Leon-Jefferson Complicated Stamped until Brent Wiseman revived Smith’s Jefferson Complicated Stamped with six added variations to describe each of the stamp patterns in 1992.[i] Both Smith and Wiseman named this type after Leon and Jefferson Counties in Florida as part of the historic Appalachee pottery complex.
Jefferson ware was originally defined as having a grit temper, however, as Weisman found and redefined the Jefferson Complicated Stamped type at the Fig Springs site, it was found to have grog (crushed clay) tempering.
The older type, that Weisman called early, has a concentric circle or bull’s-eye design, the Jefferson variant has nested parallelograms, the Curlee variant has herringbones, the Fig Springs variant has rectilinear borders around raised dots in sets of threes, Suwannee has interlocking waves around a central oval, and Baptizing Springs has nested crosses.
Known vessel forms include flaring-rim jars with simple rims and straight-neck jars. Other rim forms are folded and pinched.
This pottery belongs to 17th century Spanish Mission period.
This type is found in the northwestern Florida area and perhaps in portions of southwestern Georgia.
Wiseman, Brent, Excavations on the Franciscan Frontier. University Press of Florida, 1992, p.199
This type was defined by Robert Wauchope in the late 1930s.
The paste of this type was tempered with medium grit.
The stamped designs are of low relief and are difficult to see. The most common motif is a gourd or jar-shaped element enclosing a rectilinear staple-shaped or three-sided unit in its swollen portion. A series of these designs are arranged in lines on the vessel, alternately facing in and out. Short lines, short wavy lines and blobs were used as filler between the lines.
Known vessel forms include deep conoidal wide-mouth jars with slight shoulders, restricted necks, and flaring out-curved rim. The lips on these vessels were usually rounded.
This is a Middle to Late Mississippian period pottery that Joseph Caldwell wanted to include in the group of Etowah Complicated Stamped type. Associated points are Madison and Guntersville points.
Long Swamp pottery is found primarily in the area of Lake Allatoona in northwestern Georgia. It’s limited distribution may argue against its inclusion into the Etowah pottery group.
(Left) Private Collection, (Right) Collections of the University of Georgia
(Left) Wayne Porch collection, (Right) Ocmulgee National Monument
This type was originally defined by Jesse Jennings and Charles Fairbanks based upon sherds that had a distinctive complex style of stamping from the Napier site just east of Macon.[i] The type name site for this pottery is the Napier Mound in Jones County, Georgia, located just east of Macon. The type has been noted as far away as the Chickamauga Basin in Tennessee and related sites in South Carolina and northern Alabama.
This is a grit-tempered pottery type.
This is intricate, detailed, complicated designs on relatively thin grit-tempered pottery. The lands and grooves on the pottery are typically thinner and narrower than Swift Creek designs. Designs include: (1) multiple lines which passed back and forth across each other with parallel line filler, (2) zigzagging multi-line strands that form diamond-shaped enclosures with parallel line filler, (3) multi-line straight bands with multi-line chevrons, (4) combinations of small concentric circles with multi-line diamonds, crosses, or chevrons with parallel line filler, (5) herringbone lines, (6) curving multi-line Xs, bordered by rainbow bands, (7) two curving multi-line strands intertwined with parallel line filler, (8) nested diamonds, (9) multi-line diamonds with short lines radiating from them and framed at the sides with multi-line zigzags, (10) multi-line strands crossing each other similar to a bracelet motif, (11) a looped linear L shape with multi-line strands crossing behind it, (12) curvilinear hourglass shapes paired side by side with parallel line filler, (13 ) concentric circles set in multi-line figure eights crossed by three parallel lines, (14) shield-shaped line-filled motifs in pairs side by side with parallel line filler and the area between the pairs filled with cross hatching.
Known vessel forms include deep beakers, globular jars and bowls with incurving lips, bowls with straight or rounded flaring sides, bowls with widely flaring slightly rounded sides, and shouldered jars with straight vertical collars.
This type lasted from the Late Woodland to Early Mississippian period.
This type is known from central, north and northwestern Georgia, western North and South Carolina, eastern Tennessee and northwestern Alabama.
[i] Williams, Mark. Georgia Indian Pottery web site
Collections of the Anthropology Division of the Florida Museum of Natural History, FLMNH Cat. No.91-31-99
RESEARCH: This type was defined by Gordon Willey in 1949 from sites along the northwest Florida coast, especially in the area of Carrabelle in Franklin County, Florida.[i] Willey saw this type in sites along the northwest coast of Florida, but examples have been found as far east as Jacksonville, Florida and into southern Georgia.
TEMPER: This is a sand-tempered pottery that included mica in the paste in Florida, but can be grit-tempered in southern Georgia. The Mica was probably naturally occurring in the sand.
SURFACE DECORATION: Complicated stamping on grit-tempered pottery, frequently with check stamping associated in the same design. The designs cover the entire exteriors of vessels.
VESSEL FORMS: Total vessel forms were not described by Willey, but forms should conform to those of the Deptford and Santa Rosa periods with deep jars and simple rims. The rims were slightly out flared and the lips were round-pointed and flat-rounded.
CHRONOLOGY: This type was assigned to the Middle Woodland, Santa-Rosa-Swift Creek period. Willey suggested that it was related to both the Gulf Check Stamped and curvilinear complicated stamped pottery types and may have been the first complicated stamped pottery to evolve.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: Willey reported examples from the northwestern Florida Gulf Coast and the author has recovered a diatomaceous earth-tempered sherd from Duval County, Florida. Williams suggests that examples could presumably also be found in southern Georgia.
[i] Willey, Gordon R., Archaeology of the Florida Gulf Coast, Bureau of American Ethnology Smithsonian Institution, 1949, p.386
RESEARCH: Some varieties of Oemler Complicated Stamped pottery was identified by Antonio Waring as Deptford Geometric Stamped pottery (lower). The type was later named for the Oemler site in Chatham County, Georgia.
TEMPER: This pottery type has a sand-tempered paste.
SURFACE DECORATION: The surface of these vessels is covered with rectilinear complicated stamped designs. The designs include nested diamonds; herring bone shapes, alternating zones of triangle-filled pyramids, and rows of diamond-shaped lozenges separated by heavy lines. No curvilinear stamping is found for this type. Rims are straight to slightly flaring, sometimes sharply everted. Lips are rounded to squared, often forming a broad flat lip. Vessel forms are cylindrical jars and bases are rounded.
VESSEL FORM: Rims are straight to slightly flaring, sometimes sharply everted. Lips are rounded to squared, often forming a broad flat lip. Vessel forms are cylindrical jars and bases are rounded.
CHRONOLOGY: This is an Early Woodland pottery type. 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.
(Top) Jefferson Chapman 2001 Fig.8.22.d, (Bottom) Lewis & Kneberg 1946 Fig.21
RESEARCH: Tom Lewis and Madeline Kneberg named this type for the historic Overhill Cherokee people of eastern Tennessee in 1946.[i]
TEMPER: Coarsely crushed shell or occasionally coarse grit-temper was used in this pottery.
SURFACE DECORATION: Complicated stamping was curvilinear or rectilinear, appearing as hanging loops or nested diamonds.
VESSEL FORMS: Known vessel forms are jars and shallow bowls similar to salt pans. Rims are vertical on jar forms.
CHRONOLOGY: The shell-tempered pottery is middle 18th century Cherokee pottery. The grit temper is thought to be an earlier form as well as contemporaneous with the shell-tempered form.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: The majority of this type of pottery is found in along the Little Tennessee and upper Hiwassee Rivers of eastern Tennessee. It is possibly also found in extreme northern Georgia.
Lewis, Thomas M.N. and Madeline Kneberg. Hiwassee Island An Archaeological Account of Four Tennessee Indian Peoples, University of Tennessee Press, 1946
Keel 1976 Pl.6 a
RESEARCH: The Qualla series was named by Brian Egloff based upon excavations by a number of sites in western North Carolina, as well as northern South Carolina. Bennie C. Keel again discussed this type in 1976.[i] The type was named after the Qualla Cherokee Reservation. Keel reported that 81 percent of the pottery recovered from the Tuckasegee site in Jackson County, North Carolina was of this type. It seems important to recognize that there is, as Egloff believed, a marked difference between the pottery forms produced by the Georgia and South Carolina Cherokee potters (Lower Towns), the North Carolina Villages (Middle, Valley and Out Towns), and the Tennessee Overhill Towns.
TEMPER: This type was tempered with moderate to large amounts of grit and is very similar to Lamar pottery of Georgia. In Georgia, Lamar is the preferred name.
SURFACE DECORATION: The complicated stamped paddles for this type were poorly carved. Stamping has less regularity and symmetry than Lamar stamped pottery. The interior surfaces are finished by burnishing, making this type distinctive.
VESSEL FORMS: Sherd examples at the Tuckasegee site suggested simple bowls, carinated bowls, globular jars with short necks, and large jars with constricted mouths. Appendages were rare on Qualla vessels and none were recovered at this site. Folded finger impressed rim fillets are typical as they are with Lamar pottery. Egloff identified 15 different rim variations.
CHRONOLOGY: Cherokee potters made this type during the Late Mississippian and Historic period. Radiocarbon dating at the Tuckasegee site (N.C.) fell at A.D. 1775 +/- 55 years, the Garden Creek Mound site (N.C.) dated at A.D. 1730 +/- 100 years, and the Chauga site (S.C.) dated to A.D. 1120 +/- 150 years.
GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: The type is distributed throughout western North and South Carolina, eastern Tennessee and perhaps extreme northeastern Georgia.
[i] Keel, Bennie C., Cherokee Archaeology, A Study of the Appalachian Summit, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville 1976
