CERAMICS
In addition to the two vessels from the burial at Mound A, ceramic specimens comprise a total of 562 sherds. The paste of these sherds is characteristically sherd tempered, occasionally with the addition of small quantities of sand and/or bone particles. There is no shell tempering. Study of the sherds indicates that bottles, jars with outcurved rims, carinated bowls, and possibly other forms are represented. Exterior surface treatment includes brushing, smoothing, polishing, and red filming; smoothing and red filming also occur as interior surface treatments. Techniques used in applying decorations are incising, engraving, appliquéing, and punctating.
The small quantity of sherds did not permit reconstruction of any vessels nor of any complete design elements: consequently correlations between techniques of decorating, design elements, vessel shapes and surface treatment were impossible as a rule, and a comprehensive typological analysis of the ceramics could not be made.
The ceramics were separated on the basis of decorative technique into six groups: brushed, incised, appliquéd, punctated, engraved, and plain. Each group is described separately below.
Brushed Pottery
Of the 141 brushed sherds, 13 are rimsherds and 128 are from body areas. The brushing is always on the exterior surface, the interior surfaces being poorly to fairly well smoothed. Wall thickness ranges from 5 to 9 mm. Lips are rounded and slightly everted.
Clay lumps of varying sizes—evidently ground up sherds are visible in the paste of most sherds, and 39 of the 141 brushed sherds also contain bone tempering. There are particles of sand in all the sherds, a few having so much that their surfaces have a distinctly sandy feel when rubbed between the fingers. Paste colors range from creams and buffs to fairly dark grays, with most sherds falling into the lighter shades of buff, brown, and gray—indicative of oxidation during firing. Some sherds have light exterior surfaces and dark interior surfaces, suggesting that the vessels stood upside down during firing.
Most of the brushed sherds could not be definitely identified with any specific pottery types; however, several sherds were assigned to the types Bullard Brushed of the Frankston Focus (Suhm et al., 1954: 252 and Pl. 9) and Pease Brushed-Incised of the Bossier Focus (Webb, 1948: 110-113 and Pls. 11 & 12; Suhm et al., 1954: 338 and Pl. 53).
There are 17 Bullard Brushed sherds, 13 of them from the body of a single vessel, the other four from the rim of another vessel ([Fig. 13], A-B). All were found at Mound C. Both vessels were barrel-shaped with a slight, evenly curved constriction in the neck area. There were one or more horizontal rows of punctations made with a blunt stick separating the body area from the rim area on both vessels, but there was no angle at the juncture of the body and the rim. On the vessel represented only by body sherds, the brushing consisted of short, overlapping strokes in random directions, creating a roughened exterior of uneven appearance. The rim treatment of this vessel could not be determined. The other Bullard Brushed vessel was represented by four rimsherds which fitted together. The rim of this vessel curved outwardly and was evenly brushed in a diagonal direction. A horizontal row of punctations appeared at the bottom of the rim. Both Bullard vessels were relatively large with wide mouths.
Six of the brushed body sherds ([Fig. 13], C, D, G) were identified as type Pease Brushed-Incised because they have vertically brushed sections separated by vertical appliqué strips. Five are from Mound D, the other from Mound A. Five of the six have closely spaced punctations or indentations pressed into the strips. One of the Pease body sherds ([Fig. 13], D) is attached to a portion of the rim which is brushed horizontally. On this sherd there is a marked angle at the juncture of the body and the rim, and a horizontal row of small punctations made with the blunt end of a stick is impressed along the line of the angle. Other Pease sherds with incising instead of brushing are described later.
The other 118 brushed sherds were not assigned to definite types, but will be described here as a group. In all or most of the vessels represented by the miscellaneous brushed sherds the coiling method was employed. Fractures along coil lines, and vessel curvature on some of the larger sherds, made it possible to orient 30 of the brushed body sherds with respect to the vessels from which they came. The brushing on all 30 is in an approximately vertical direction ([Fig. 14], C-D). The nine rimsherds, in contrast, are all brushed horizontally ([Fig. 14], A-B) except for one which is brushed diagonally. On one sherd containing portions of both body and rim, the body is brushed vertically and the rim horizontally. The body and rim areas are separated on this sherd by a horizontal row of small, closely spaced punctations made with a pointed instrument. On three of the nine rimsherds there are similar single rows of punctations just below the lip.
The miscellaneous brushed sherds appear to have come, by and large, from jars with outcurved rims, the bodies brushed vertically and the rims brushed horizontally. The body and rim areas were probably separated in most cases by a horizontal row of closely spaced punctations made with the end of a stick, and similar rows of punctations were placed on some rims just below the lip at the top of the brushed zone. The juncture of the body and the rim usually formed a distinct angle. There is the possibility that some vessels with brushed bodies had plain or incised rims, or, conversely, that some with brushed rims had plain or incised bodies. The horizontally brushed rims, some with punctations, are quite similar to the rims of type Pease Brushed-Incised, and it is quite likely that some of the brushed sherds came from Pease vessels. It is also possible that some of the brushed body sherds are from vessels with incised rims of the Maydelle Incised type (Suhm et al., 1954: 324 and Pl. 46) described later.
Incised Pottery
Thirty-nine sherds with incised lines were found at the Harroun Site, 31 of them body sherds and the other eight from rims. The incised sherds are all sherd tempered with varying amounts of sand included in the paste. Bone tempering is also present in eight. Surface colors are predominantly light browns and grays, indicating an oxidizing atmosphere during firing. The characteristic surface treatment of the exteriors is smoothing (done before incising), and all the interiors are smoothed. Wall thickness varies from 4 to 8 mm. Two sherds have red slips.
Eleven of the incised sherds have vertical or diagonal appliqué strips marking off the vessel body into panels, each panel being decorated with parallel incised lines ([Fig. 13], E-F). These have all the characteristics of Pease Brushed-Incised body sherds, and they have all been assigned to that type.
One sherd ([Fig. 14], E) with punctation-filled incised panels is unmistakably from a bowl of type Crockett Curvilinear Incised of the Alto Focus, Gibson Aspect (Newell and Krieger, 1949: 98-101 and Fig. 36). This sherd has a straight rim with a squarish lip; the exterior was smoothed before decorating and the interior is poorly smoothed. Decoration consists of a portion of one curvilinear panel outlined with incised lines and filled with small, crescentic punctations. Part of a crack-lacing hole is retained on one edge of the sherd. This specimen was found in a disturbed area at Mound B.
A sharply incurving rimsherd ([Fig. 13], H) with four parallel incised lines in the broad, flat lip is from a vessel which was not of traditional Caddoan shape or decoration. It was found over four feet deep in Zone IIb of the floodplain near Mound A. The incurving rim, the flat lip, and the position of the incised lines are all quite similar to styles of the Lower Mississippi Area—especially as exemplified by the types Coles Creek Incised and Chase Incised (Ford, 1951: 74-77). Another interesting feature of this sherd is a bright red slip which covers both the interior and the exterior surfaces.
A second sherd ([Fig. 13], I) with characteristically Lower Mississippi design is also from Zone IIb of the floodplain. This sherd came from the neck area of a jar and has portions of a decorated rim and a plain body. The decoration consists of two sets of parallel lines crossing each other at an angle so as to form a series of diamond-shaped elements. Inside each diamond is a triangular punctation made with the corner of an angular instrument. There is an abrupt decrease in wall thickness at the bottom of the rim so that a typically Lower Mississippian “overhanging line” effect is produced. In design and general execution this sherd is similar to the type Beldeau Incised (Ford, 1951: 81-83) of the Coles Creek period in the Lower Mississippi Area, but its paste appears to be more in the Caddoan than in the Baytown tradition.
The 25 incised sherds not assignable to any specific type comprise five rimsherds and 20 body sherds. Fifteen of the body sherds bear thin lines sliced into the plastic clay with a sharp instrument; the other 10 were incised with a blunt-tipped implement which gouged out, rather than sliced, the lines. Two sherds ([Fig. 14], G) have a horizontal row of closely spaced punctations in the neck area. Of the five rimsherds, one has three widely spaced, horizontal, incised lines; three ([Fig. 14], F) have a design of widely spaced, cross hatched incised lines; the fifth bears traces of two horizontal incised lines on the lower part of the rim above a plain body. Some of the smaller body sherds could have come from Pease Brushed-Incised vessels and the three rimsherds with cross hatched design could well be from Maydelle Incised vessels.
Thus the 39 incised sherds include at least 11 from vessels of type Pease Brushed-Incised, one is type Crockett Curvilinear Incised, and two appear to be intrusions from the late Coles Creek period of the Lower Mississippi Area. The unidentified sherds are all typically Caddoan in their general characteristics, and three of them may represent type Maydelle Incised of the Frankston Focus.
Appliquéd Pottery
The decorative technique of appliquéing occurs commonly at the Harroun Site, principally in combination with brushing and incising on the type Pease Brushed-Incised described above. However, there are five sherds with appliqué strips but with no traces of brushing or incising ([Fig. 14], J). Paste characteristics of these sherds are the same as for the previously described appliquéd sherds of the Pease type, and it is believed that they are from vessels similar to Pease Brushed-Incised except that the panels on the body were left plain instead of being filled with brushing or incised lines.
Punctated Pottery
As stated in previous sections, horizontal rows of punctations occur commonly in combination with brushing on the rims of jars, and punctations also appear in vertical rows on appliqué strips applied to the bodies of Pease Brushed-Incised jars. Thus punctations seem to occur most commonly in association with incising, brushing, and appliquéing. However, eight sherds have punctations as the only decorative technique. Four of them have sections of single rows of closely spaced punctations, all made with the ends of sticks or similar implements ([Fig. 14], H). The other four sherds ([Fig. 14], I) are covered with small, free punctations. On one of the latter the punctations were made with a blunt stick; the other three have paired fingernail impressions.
The punctated sherds are all similar in paste characteristics. All are sherd tempered and one also has a small amount of bone temper. Exterior colors are light to medium brown and gray, while the interiors tend toward darker shades of the same colors. The exterior surfaces were smoothed before the punctations were applied; the interiors are also smoothed.
The punctated sherds are not distinctive enough for typological identification.
Engraved Pottery
Only two complete pottery vessels were found at the Harroun Site, a carinated bowl and a bottle, both engraved and both associated with the burial beneath Mound A.
The carinated bowl ([Fig. 12], B) has a flat, round base and a compound rim which turns sharply inward at the shoulder to form a narrow, almost vertical panel approximately 1.5 cm. high. Above this panel the rim turns sharply outward to form a second panel extending to the lip. Four equally spaced peaks rise from the upper panel of the rim. The bowl stands 9.5 cm. high and measures 21.0 cm. wide between opposing rim peaks. Both the exterior and the interior surfaces have been well smoothed, and marks of the smoothing tool are clearly visible both inside and outside the vessel.
The lower rim panel of the carinated bowl bears a stylized version of the interlocking scroll design, featuring broad, deep, engraved lines with small excised zones. The upper rim panel has elongated triangular designs on the rim peak areas with broad, parallel, vertical, engraved lines within the triangles. An almost identical bowl is pictured by Suhm et al., (1954: Pl. 57, I) as an example of the type Ripley Engraved.
The engraved bottle ([Fig. 12], C) has a broad, squat body and a tall neck with expanded rim. Total height is 23.1 cm. The body is 12.8 cm. high by 18.3 cm. wide; the height of the neck is 10.3 cm., its minimal diameter is 4.5 cm., and the oral diameter is 5.5 cm. An interlocking scroll design is repeated twice (slightly asymmetrically) on the body, and some of the engraved lines have small, pendant triangles which are hachured or excised. There are also several cross hatched, triangular elements. The exterior surface is dark gray in color and has been well smoothed. The bottle has been identified as an example of type Ripley Engraved (Suhm et al., 1954: 346 and Pl. 59).
In addition to the two vessels from Burial No. 1, examples of the engraving technique appear on 107 sherds from the Harroun Site. The paste of these sherds is fairly consistent in being fine grained and relatively hard, and all appear to have sherd temper. The paste of the engraved sherds also contains moderate amounts of sand, and 23 of them have bone particles added as a supplementary tempering agent. Surfaces are smoothed, both on the interior and exterior, and the exterior surfaces of several sherds are highly polished. Fractures along coil lines indicate that manufacture was by the coiling method. Wall thickness ranges from 3 to 7 mm.
A big majority of the engraved sherds are from the rims of carinated bowls with rounded, out-turned lips, but several are from the bodies of bottles and one is from the rim of a jar. Most of the sherds are small, having sections of from one to four engraved lines which are too incomplete to reveal any distinctive design elements: consequently no typological affiliations can be determined for them. There are some, however, which can definitely be assigned to previously recognized typological categories.
On four sherds ([Fig. 14], L) are small, excised, diamond-shaped elements enclosed by concentric diamond-shaped lines, and two sherds ([Fig. 14], K, M) are decorated with swastikas enclosed by circles. Both of these designs are known only on the type Ripley Engraved; therefore there is no hesitation in identifying these six sherds as Ripley. Two other sherds with portions of Ripley-like designs were assigned to the same type.
One sherd ([Fig. 14], O) from a small carinated bowl is decorated with a curvilinear interlocking scroll design characteristic of the type Taylor Engraved (Suhm et al., 1954: 360-362 and Pl. 65). Another sherd ([Fig. 14], N) from an engraved bottle appears also to be of the Taylor type, as does an engraved rimsherd ([Fig. 14], P) from a jar.
Four sherds came from the lower neck region of a bottle. A single, fairly heavy, engraved line filled with red pigment encircled the base of the neck, and the neck contracted sharply toward the top in typically Gibson Aspect style. The paste is fine grained in texture and almost black in color. The exterior is well smoothed and polished, but the interior is very poorly smoothed, as is usual for Caddoan Area bottles. The wall of the neck is 6 mm. thick. This bottle is almost certainly a Gibson Aspect form, possibly type Hickory Fine Engraved of the Alto Focus (Newell and Krieger, 1949: 90-91 and Fig. 33; Suhm et al., 1954: 294 and Pl. 31). It was associated with the floor of House No. 3 at Mound B.
The other 92 engraved sherds could not be identified with any specific types. However, they all are from carinated bowls and bottles characteristic of the Fulton Aspect, the forcefully engraved lines of many suggesting Titus Focus in particular. An interesting note is the occasional widening of an engraved line by a series of closely spaced, gouged out lines, creating small zones which are not quite completely excised ([Fig. 14], K). The identical technique was noted by E. Mott Davis (1958: 61) at the Whelan Site, located on Cypress Creek about 15 miles below the Harroun Site. This treatment is similar in a general way to that of the type Poynor Engraved of the Frankston Focus, but the design elements on which it occurs, both at Harroun and Whelan, are characteristic of Titus Focus (types Ripley, Taylor, and Wilder Engraved) and not of Frankston Focus.
In general, the engraved pottery at the Harroun Site indicates Titus Focus affiliation, the only exception being the one Gibson Aspect bottle fragment. Ripley Engraved is the most common type, but type Taylor Engraved and probably type Wilder Engraved are also present.
Plain Pottery
A total of 260 plain potsherds was recovered from the four mounds and the trenches in the floodplain. Paste of the plain pottery contains varying amounts of sand, and all or most of the sherds are tempered with ground potsherds. Bone tempering is present in 31 plain sherds. Wall thickness varies from 3 mm. for the thinnest body sherds to 13 mm. for some basal sherds.
The surfaces are smoothed and some are highly polished. Sixteen plain sherds are red filmed, seven of them on the exterior surface only and the others on both the inner and outer surfaces. Paste colors are mostly browns and grays, with shades ranging from very light to quite dark.
Carinated bowls, bottles, and probably other vessel shapes are represented. Many of the plain sherds undoubtedly came from vessels which were partially decorated; others probably are from entirely plain vessels. Of the 14 rimsherds, seven are large enough to show that the rims of some vessels were not decorated. No definite types were recognized.
Miscellaneous Ceramic Objects
A perforated pottery disc ([Fig. 14], Q) made from a sherd was found at Mound C. It is 32 mm. in diameter, 8 mm. thick, and has a biconically drilled hole 10 mm. in diameter in the center. The outer edge has been partially ground smooth and the two flat sides are fairly well polished. The sherd from which this artifact was made is buff in color, clay tempered, and the paste is fine textured and compact.
A small, conical, ceramic object ([Fig. 14], R) was unearthed at Mound B. It appears to be the tip of an appendage that has broken off an effigy vessel or a pipe bowl. It is oval in cross section, and the distal end contracts to a blunt point. The buff-colored paste is fine grained and compact; the surface is poorly smoothed. This object measures 18 mm. long and its maximum diameter at the proximal end is 8 mm.