HOUSTON ARCHEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

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HOW CERAMICS WERE MADE

Little research has been done on the actual manufacturing process, such as clay sources, firing techniques, etc. Black (1988) has conducted experiments to replicate Goose Creek pottery. He notes that pottery in this region was typically made by coiled contruction with rounded pot bottoms. He also notes that firing of pottery with a wood fire will generally not be hot enough to cause vitrification but the ware will be water tight. The vessels are usually cone shaped, with occasional cylindrical shapes (Patterson, 1990d).

TEMPERING

The temper materials used in Southeast Texas include coarse sand, grog, and crushed bone. There is also untempered pottery. Tchefuncte was made from fine clay, and Goose Creek, which was made from a natural fine sand clay. Different materials can be used to temper Southeast Texas ceramics. Not all materials are suitable for cooking pottery, which have to endure long periods of exposure to high temperatures.

Shell tempering is very rare at coastal margin sites, even though there was a lot of shell available. Shell tempering was very popular in the Mississippian Culture of the Mississippi valley. Why shell was not used in this area may have been a cultural choice, or there may be technical reasons why shell tempering was not used. It may have been that Rangia did not make a good tempering material, the local clays did not interract well with Rangia shell, or special firing techniques were needed that were beyond the capabilities of the locals. We know now that temperature control is vital (O'Brien and Holland 1992:51) to making shell tempered pottery.

Bone added to clay makes durable ceramics suitable to cooking. It was found, however, that the bone had to be burned to make it friable before crushing and adding to the paste (Brewington 1992:4). Brewington also found the bone temper in sherds from archeological site range in color from black to white. The bone temper within the vessel wall remains a dark color, while the bone temper on the vessel surfaces turn white, due to the higher temperature.

Ceramics with sand temper occur throughout Southeast Texas from the beginning of the Early Ceramic era.

Grog tempered ceramics contain crushed pieces of pottery in the paste. Pieces of a broken pot are pulverized or ground, then mixed into the paste. Grog tempering produces very durable ceramics. All grog tempered pottery occurs in the Late Prehistoric in Southeast Texas ( Aten 1983:Figure 14.1).

FIRING

The degree of firing plays a large role in a piece's durability. Poorly fired pottery, common in the inland regions of Southeast Texas, are quite friable, sometimes deteriorating where it lies.

THICKNESS

 

HOW CERAMICS WERE USED

The uses of pottery by hunter/gatherers in Southeast Texas are not well understood. Some possible uses for pottery are cooking, water storage, and food storage. Imagine a 5" or 6" tall piece of pottery, filled to overflowing with acorns. Them's good eats!

Pottery may have been important for water storage on the coastal margin, because of the lack of fresh water sources. Boiling shellfish and other marine foods may have been another important use on the coastal margin. Cooking on an open fire requires the vessel be well-fired, tempered with a material thermally similar to the paste.

Inland, pottery was mainly used for food and water storage, but seldom for cooking.

It doesn't seem likely that pottery was used for carrying items. The bulk and weight of the vessels don't lend themselves to this use. But if the vessels couldn't be carried long distances, did these people, living a nomadic life, have to make new ceramics at every camp?

 

Warning! the information below is incomplete and possibly probably incorrect.

Temper	Paste	Surface Treatment	Other Characteristics	Ware
None	Sandy	Various or none	Round bottom, rimmed. Most common type in SE Texas	Goose Creek Plain and Incised
Low to Moderate Grog	Fine sand	Various or none		San Jacinto Plain and Incised
Abundant Grog	Fine sand			Baytown
Bone			Not common	Bone Tempered
None	Fine clay with some fine sand		Rare. May be a Tchefuncte variant	Mandeville
None	Fine clay	Stamped occurs rarely	Rare	Tchefuncte
Coarse Sand	Sandy		Similar to Goose Creek	O'Neal Plain
None	Sandy		Very similar to Goose Creek. Found mainly west of San Bernard River. Rather rare	Rockport Plain
	Sandy	Incised	Very similar to Goose Creek	Rockport Incised
	Sandy	Asphalt	Similar to Goose Creek	Rockport Asphalt Decorated