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.