Fire and Ice: New Evidence for the Production and Preservation of Late Archaic Fiber-Tempered Pottery in the Middle-Latitude Lowlands

Abstract

Fiber-tempered potsherds recovered from three sites of the Nebo Hill phase in western Missouri and eastern Kansas date to between 4550 and 3550 radiocarbon years (2600–1600 B.C.) and represent the earliest dated vessels in the midwest. The occurence of fiber-tempered pottery at this time period and this far north and west of the traditionally-defined southeastern hearth for such wares requires a major reappraisal of the assumed distribution and antiquity of Late Archaic ceramics in eastern North America. This report describes the ceramic sherds from the Nebo Hill type site in terms of their method of manufacture and probable use, and identifies factors influencing their survival and preservation in the middle-latitude lowlands. It is proposed that the temperate latitude distribution pattern of shallowly-buried, fiber-tempered potsherds is shaped primarily by the variables of time, ambient moisture and temperature, and ware porosity, and is not necessarily isomorphic with the prehistoric distribution of fiber-tempered vessels.

Burned Rock Complexes, Baked Clay Objects, Steatite, and Ceramics: Evolutionary Implications for Plains/Eastern Woodlands Cooking Technologies

“…(Sassaman, 1996:68). Fiber-tempered Stallings and sand-tempered Thoms Creek wares, as well as Wheeler and Nebo Hill ceramics from northwest Alabama and western Missouri, date to about the same time period (Jenkins et al, 1986;Reid, 1984aReid, , 1984bSassaman, 1996; see Figure 2). Comparable long-term processes may have held for the transition between BCO and steatite technologies, as well.…”

“…(Williams, 1988:43). This class of cooking feature persisted at least until A.D. 1000, long after early fiber-tempered ceramics came into use at the Nebo Hill site in northwestern Missouri (Reid, 1984a). Researchers might attribute the long-term persistence of BRC to the difficulty of transporting ceramics to food processing areas or other similar causes.…”

Ford revisited: A critical review of the chronology and relationships of the earliest ceramic complexes in the New World, 6000-1500 B.C.

“…Although they tend to last longer than subsistence or habitational remains, ceramics, especially when poorly fired, are not always preserved. Fiber-tempered pottery may not survive at all in areas subject to periodic freezing and thawing (Reid, 1984;Skibo et al, 1989). Whole ceramic vessels from the earliest periods are practically unknown.…”

Residential Mobility and Ceramic Exchange: Ethnography and Archaeological Implications

“…I conclude that although vessels can be designed to fit within a residentially mobile lifeway, they need not be. Previous authors have described specialized design features in the pots of mobile groups (Bollong et al 1997;Habicht-Mauche 1991;Reid 1984aReid , b, 1989Reid , 1990, but under many circumstances, pots made in agricultural villages that lack these features could easily be used as well. Mobile groups generally use ceramic vessels to improve food processing and storage, as do sedentary groups; almost never do they use them for special, mobility-related tasks that villagers do not face.…”