While working in square 37R5 this burial was partly in it (37R5) and there weren’t feet present (see photo 34). The absence of feet has occurred before and it is a trait that may be distinctive.
While removing the skull of this burial, which was on the line (R6), the arm of another burial, in square 38R6, was found. It was not removed, but was left for future investigation since the conditions are the same as the above mentioned burial. The soil color in the levels below the midden is of great concern in this area; there seems to be a discoloration in what appears to be the top part of the subsoil. There will be a thorough check made of the soil.
Accompanied by J. L. Henson and son, Charles, James Vorus, and John, Jr., we moved to the part of the site that I rented for the summer, and decided on a square on the highest part on this end of the site. We established the square 15R8 and put up the shelter over the square to protect us from the sun. We removed all potsherds from the plow zone to DD 4.7, at DD 4.7. There appeared a black area in the NW ¼ of the square. The NE ¼ had indications of burned clay. The black area suggested a pit but there was no outline of one. At DD 5.0 the black area was still there and contained above the normal amount of charcoal but still no define outline of a pit. At DD 5.5 we outlined the black area and sketched in the square form. At DD 6.0 the area did not exist. The only difference in this area and the rest of the square was the dark color; the contents or number of potsherds, and other evidences appeared to be the same as the rest of the square. I could not positively say that this area was a pit.
At DD 5.5 the soil changed to a lighter brown. There were tree root impressions visible that were not visible in the above level. This suggested another natural level. Also, there was little material to be found. The few sherds were not in a midden. There was little other sign of an occupation in this soil (the lighter brown soil).
This lighter brown soil was mottled in color, having light sandy streaks and circles and at DD 7.2 there was yellow sand. In this mottled sandy soil was a burial (25) under the R9 line and less than one foot north of the 15 line, and there was no sign of the midden with this burial, though there was a little darker appearance of the mottled soil. The members of the party and all kept up with activities throughout the whole square and it was plain to all that there seemed to be no connection between this burial and the midden above. There was a separation at the knees. Also, there appeared a sunken place in the pelvic region which was reflected in the midden above. It would also account for the separation between the bones at the knees. There was a deformity of the right femur which should be explained at a later time after examination by proper persons.
A different method of taking the soil profile was followed. This time I used the transit at each running foot of the east wall to record the lines inscribed inthe wall.
According to the profiles of the four walls, they were nearly uniform in depth, that is, no marked difference was present to warrant drawing all four. The east wall was used because of the sunken area, on the R9 line. During the afternoon we had a shower of rain though we worked on through it.
We finished work at nightfall and then filled the square. It was nearly 9:00 P.M. when we finished. We arrived home after 11:00 P.M.
Highlights of the trip were when we found the burial which was quite a bit of excitement for James Vorus; the boat ride to the car in the darkness; and when we all got to the nearest store we each had three king size cold drinks.
In regard to the sunken area in the square which has shown up in the midden and in the burial in the subsoil, perhaps (this) has some connection with the New Madrid earthquake. This site is in the Sunken Lands. There was also the absence of the two strata profile in the midden. Perhaps future work will reveal the reason for the change.
James Vorus, Mr. F. N. Davis, John, Jr., and myself arrived at the site early this A.M. We had discussed moving to the edge of the site on the south end, which we did. We established square 7R13 and set up for work. The plowzone produced little material. The potsherds were scarce at the bottom of the plowzone. There was no pattern of pits, or other features to be found.
The next level, DD 6.2 to DD 6.5 produced several possible postmolds, but when cross-sectioned, they were either tree roots or just shallow black areas—not postmolds.
This level produced little material, only a few potsherds and debris. From Datum depth 6.5 to 7.0 there was just a handful of potsherds. This is a marked difference over the rest of the site that had been excavated to date. As a rule, the sherds are plentiful. At DD 7.0 when the surface was scraped off, the outline of a fireplace appeared and in the fireplace was a small flat stone, under which was a considerable amount of charred root. Readily identifiable were nut shells and hulls.
At DD 7.5 there was the outline of two pits in the subsoil (subsoil first showed at DD 7.2), one small pit, the other three feet in diameter. The pits were cross-sectioned with a two-foot trench. The two pits were then photographed. The north wall was then scraped and marked with lines at each running foot, the profile sketched in the wall, then photographed, and drawn on the graph paper, using datum depths at each line on each running foot of the profile. The square was filled shortly before dark.
The crew on the site early this A.M., and we decided to work on the east side of the ditch and in the vicinity of the burials that had been found previously.We staked out square 31R17, and began work; we removed the plow zone. We scraped off the new surface in search of any possible pattern of pit outline, or postmold, and there was none to be found. Potsherds, and other items, were collected for that level F. S. 185 which was the plow zone.
With no visible pattern in the horizontal profile at DD 5.0 we began the next level collecting potsherds, which were designated F. S. 187. At DD 5.0 to DD 5.5, and at two-tenths of a foot in the level there appeared the top of a skull (See burial form 34). Burial 34 had a skull at its feet, possibly a trophy skull, and was a positive association with burial 34. At the completion of the square, the following information was recorded:
There were four burials directly beneath Burial 34, and in a very compact arrangement; two of the burials were adults, and two of them infants. They were in a very disturbed condition, at the time they were discovered. The problem arose as to what took place. They were in an east-west direction, and in very compact arrangement. It seems as though each burial was disturbed when each succeeding burial was placed in the pit. The question arose, due to the placement of one atop each other in such an exact arrangement, could there have been some sort of mark to denote the location (That is, if each one had a time space between them.) But the search produced nothing to indicate such a marker; no postmolds could be found.
These burials began atop the subsoil, and continued upward to datum depth 5.2. If there was a pit outline in the square it was not visible to us, and that is one of the items we are so careful about. In spite of the fact that the burials were disturbed and in a very poor state of preservation, one assuring condition was the position of the remaining vertebrae which indicated the four burials were under burial 34. There was a broken bottle associated with these burials, and in all probability belonged to burial 34 F. S. 191; DD 5.7 to the bottom of the vessel.
The soil changed to a lighter brown at DD 5.5 and continued about the same to subsoil which was listed as DD 6.0. The DD was based on the average depth of subsoil.
About two inches south of the 32 line, there appeared another burial, which was almost entirely in the square to the north, square 32R17. The south half of square 32R17 was also opened in order to record this burial. In doing so, the top of a bottle appeared, about two feet north of Burial 32, and nearby were the fragments of an infant burial and there were no artifacts associated with it. The burial was partly in the plow zone, and was almost completely destroyed. The bone was in poor condition and crumbled in removal.
The bottle was associated with a burial. The burial was on top of the subsoil and consisted of part of one arm, the radius, ulna, and hand—nothing else. There was no indication of disturbance, and no missing bones were found in the midden. Less than two feet north of burial 34 was another burial, the feet extending into parts of squares 31R16 and 32R16. The burial was in a shallow pitin the subsoil, and had one association with it, a bowl F. S. 190. The vessel had little nodes on four sides near the top, four nodes to each side except one side which had three nodes. This burial was .4 ft. below the average datum depth of the subsoil of this square. There was no disturbance to burial 32 and burial 33 was partly under burial 32. Burial 33 was in a lighter brown soil than that above datum depth 5.5.
There have been many burials in somewhat similar condition in regard to the missing bones, both disturbed and undisturbed, throughout the whole site in which burials were found. The skeletons were removed to the best of our ability, one of the burials in its entirety.
We filled the square and returned home.
J. T. King, Dan Printup, and myself returned to the site. Continuation was in square 27R32 beginning at DD 5.5. There had been some disturbance to the square since we were there last. A large potsherd had been removed from the ground plan DD 5.5, and a portion of the skull that was showing in the east wall of the square had been dug out. Most of the skull remained. Otherwise things were just as we had left it.
We began removing the level DD 5.5-6.0. The soil was in the best of condition to work by the method of taking thin vertical cuts. The square produced as follows: in the SE quarter the soil was similar to the subsoil in color which was of a light brown or yellow color and with a high content of sand. There were lighter streaks and blotches throughout this area, and as has been found in most of the other squares, there was a small quantity of sand tempered fabric impressed sherds in the top part of this soil just described. The NW portion of the square had a concentration of the midden as is usually found in the main occupation. The NW quarter of the square produced a good quantity of shell tempered sherds. This area was screened but produced only sherds and a few small animal bones. This deposit continued through the depth of the level and was evident in the ground plan or horizontal profile at DD 6.0 though nearing the termination of it.
The ground plan at DD 6.0 revealed what appeared to be several postmolds in an arc-like pattern. Photographs, black and white and color were taken of this ground plan. These areas which appeared to be postmolds were cross sectioned and the cut was photographed in color. To date it is doubtful that they could be postmolds for the following reasons: there were no definite lines to indicate the post, the sand streaks were evident in the unbroken pattern of the rest of the soil, the soil appeared to be stained, and in one of the patterns in question, the stain was in a pattern similar to an outline of a postmold. In the others the depth varied from less than a tenth of a foot to five tenths and they were in an irregular shape in the cut or profile where it was cross sectioned.
From an aerial photograph of the site made in January, 1960, there appeared to be several dark areas along the east line of the site. These could have been damp spots or could have been patterns representing refuse pits, houses or some other features. They were in a straight line and uniformly spaced. It was difficult to locate the spot from the ground, but using photographs from two angles, we were able to find the approximate location of one of these dark areas. Then the grid system was staked out in this area and using 1 × 4 × 10 ft. boards painted white and placed at designated squares the site was again photographed from different angles and altitudes. Square 32R36 appeared to be within one of the dark circles, which did not appear as clearly as in the first aerial photograph for the site had been plowed in the meantime.
Charles Scheel and myself began work. The plowzone produced few potsherds and bone (F. S. 388) and a number of bits of burned clay appeared in the plowzone as well as the sherds. The first horizontal profile contained a considerable amount of charcoal bits. The profile indicated changes of color in different areas of the square but did not give any indication of a pit or postmolds or anything that would indicate a feature to us. There was evidence of earthquake disturbance on the west side of the square. There was a dark area on the east side with considerable charcoal and burned bits of clay with numerous potsherds and a fair amount of animal bone—quite suggestive of a refuse area. To the south of this was an area of medium brown sandy soil with a bit of clay mixed in but it contained little material.
The area to the west was of a lighter color and contained fewer charcoal bits, but about as many potsherds and bone. On the west side of the square beginning at the north end one foot east of the west wall, a vertical sand streak one half inch wide, possibly earthquake disturbance, running to the west wall four feet south of the north end, and another vertical sand streak two feet wide running about four and one half feet south of the north end to the south wall three feet east of the SW corner of the square.
In the NW quarter of the square Burial 38 was found. It was quite compact and not articulated. Some of the bone had been burned and was in fragments.
In the NE quarter of the square and just north of Burial 38 was located Burial 39. It too had been partially burned but the bones were more neatly placed than Burial 38. The skull and parts of the other bones were not burned. Both burials were photographed.
Charles Scheel and myself began work this A.M. Plowzone removed and potsherds etc., F. S. 400, were not too numerous in the plowzone. Also in the plowzone were fragments of glass, bottles, chinaware and crockery. At one time there was a house located some one hundred feet from this square, and this possibly accounts for this disturbance. Also in the plowzone at the south center ofthe square were found fragments of a skull and fragments of a pottery vessel (this bone fragment listed as Burial 40 and pottery fragments as F. S. 401, DD 4.4). The first horizontal profile at DD 4.5 produced a general overall color, medium dark brown.
At this point being mostly out of the present plowzone level there was not the clear cut undisturbed Indian deposit. There was a considerable amount of charcoal bits and a few pieces of burned clay showing in the horizontal profile.
DD 4.5 to 5.0, potsherds, stone and bone, F. S. 402, for this level. Burial 40 was evident in this level and was determined to be head to north from other bone fragments found. Recent disturbance was again noted in this level, the presence of a shotgun shell base, pieces of glass, chinaware and nails. The nails were in excellent condition.
An unidentified soft red sandstone object shaped somewhat like a boatstone, F. S. 403, DD 4.9, was found. An area to six feet north of the SE stake running to one foot east of the SW stake appeared to be undisturbed.
DD 5.0 to 5.5, NE corner at check for DD 5.5 appeared to be undisturbed soil and nearing the color of the subsoil. Part of this level on west side toward the south end of the square appeared to be recently disturbed but not as deep as DD 5.5. Several charred poles appeared as noted on horizontal profile at DD 5.5.
DD 5.5 to 6.0. The soil began to change to the color of the subsoil at DD 6.0 in the NW corner. Further work revealed a fired clay floor, and outline of same worked out as shown on horizontal profile (took photographs).
The fired clay floor did not cover the entire outline of the house pattern and where the fired floor was missing, there was evidence of its having been there, this evidence was on the west part of the house. Explanation of this evidence is due to the soil color—where a piece of the fired floor was removed there was a pink or red color indicating intense heat. The same color was found outside the area of the fired floor as was noted under the piece of floor lifted. There was a definite outline of the west edge of the fired floor and at the same level the soil changed to subsoil west of the line indicating the floor area. There were no postmolds to be seen. The soil color, as before mentioned, is an orange to yellow or very light tan color and since this was built atop the subsoil the postmolds should have been visible.
Evidently the debris had been removed if the house had burned, but there was a small amount of charred poles sizes from .1 to .2 foot in diameter at the northwest end of the pattern. The pattern at the west and north sides was in a square arrangement. There was a depression in the fired floor and associated with it was a pottery vessel, F. S. 406, and it was complete except for the top part. Also in the depression was charcoal but no ashes. The color of the depression indicated it was or had been used as a fireplace, Feature 22. The west and northwest end of the square indicated the house was square or rectangular in shape.
The west 4 feet of this square was opened and the house presented a problem. The fired floor as well as the color representing the soil under the fired floor was not evident, but being careful, following the vertical profile we were able to determine the approximate west line of the house. For safety’s sake we listed the east wall as indeterminate. There was no evidence to be seen of any postmolds. The south end of the house pattern was in this same condition. Further work on the adjoining squares produced another house. The house in 41R21 and 41R22 was partly under the house in 40R21, 40R22, 39R22, 39R21 and 39R22.
The preceding has been a selected sample of essentially unedited field notes not including much detail and barely mentioning the carefully drawn maps, and horizontal and vertical profiles that accompanied the written description. Profiles showing soil color changes were done in color, using colored pencils in an attempt to duplicate the colors observed. Photographs, both black and white and color were taken whenever anything showed up of possible use for record or interpretation. (The Editors).
A north-south cross sectional profile along the R22 line shows a rise of 3.4 feet from the south base line to a point of maximum elevation some 400 feet north. The midden deposit shows a corresponding increase in depth. The zero base line was on the south end of the site in an area that appears to have been destroyed by an early St. Francis River meander. Excavation was carried on from this point to square 40R22, a distance of 400 feet north, but not to the northern end of the site which is some distance beyond. The northern portion of the profile indicated that this was an area of major house building activity while to the south and just north of the area washed out by the St. Francis River meander there is some indication of a court or open community center. The ancient river meander was filled with a bluish sandy clay. This ends near stake 9R22 with a datum elevation of 1.2 feet above the base line.
From 5 to 8R22 there was a sandy deposit below the plow line which probably represents a deposit from standing water as the meander activity comes to a stop and filling in became a slow silting process. From 8 to 17R22 there was a thin hard-packed deposit from .2 to .3 feet in depth. Test pits through this section yielded almost no archaeological material while just north of 17R22 the midden deposit abruptly deepened. This area, almost 100 feet north-south, was also seen on the east-west profile. It is this area that gives the impression of being a plaza or community center (Fig. 2).
Starting just north of this open area there was a bank of clean sand and the midden deposit below suddenly dipped downward until at 21R22 it was quite pronounced with evidence of a sand boil. This disturbance was due to the NewMadrid earthquake and can be clearly seen in many areas of this state. Here, the evidence for land subsidence, along with large sand boils originating from considerable depth, is clear. This earthquake evidence was no longer apparent north of square 29R22 and the full undisturbed midden deposit of 1.5 foot depth gives evidence of the Indian occupation. At square 40R22 the deposit was 1.8 feet deep and it is at this point that houses 2 and 3 were found. The excavation was not carried any farther north.
It is impossible to see absolute stratigraphic separation of archaeological materials in an inspection of cross sectional profiles. There was a general feeling among the excavators that the sand tempered sherds were more numerous in the lower levels but no clear association can be made. In several instances sand tempered sherds were found in the underlying subsoil but never were any shell tempered sherds so found.
It is to be noted that the firebasins and houses built on subsoil had only shell tempered pottery associations so it must be concluded that the people responsible for this pottery lived here at a time when the midden was non-existent. It is tempting to argue that evidence of an earlier occupation by people making the sand tempered pottery and perhaps dart points was washed away in some series of floods sweeping the camp-site clean except for a few minor items left behind in the newly silted sands. The earthquakes of recent times have played their part in reshifting the materials in this deposit thereby completely confusing such stratigraphic picture as may once have been present.
Two east-west cross sectional profiles are available for study, one at the northern end of the site and the other toward the south end. The northern portion of the deposit can be seen along the 32 line starting at the levee at stake 32R2 with a deposit depth of 2.2 feet. From this point to 32R10 the top of the subsoil was quite irregular and this irregularity is apparent on the surface of the land as the midden deposit follows the irregularities of the subsoil. It is probable that this is the result of the New Madrid earthquakes.
It was in this area that the presence of sand tempered pottery in the subsoil was first noted. A number of burials were encountered in this section of the excavation. From 23R10 to 23R16 the drainage ditch has removed all archaeological materials. At stake 32R19 the deposit was 1.6 feet in depth and continued to stake 32R25 where it was 2.2 feet deep. This full depth of deposit continued to 32R28 where it started to taper out until at stake 32R39, it was only .2 feet deep. While levee building has destroyed the western edge of the site we know that it was at least 400 feet wide. This would indicate a town four or more acres in extent.
An east-west profile was also drawn along the R17 line from the levee at stake 17R5 where the deposit is quite thin to 17R39 where it almost tapers out.
At 17R8 the depth was 1.4 feet while immediately across the drainage ditch the hard packed dark band becomes apparent with little or no deposit either above or below it. This hard packed area runs eastward for about 100 feet to17R30. At 17R32 the deposit was again 2.2 feet in depth but this thinned out rapidly at 17R32-39 as the eastern limits of the village was reached.
Pottery from the Lawhorn site represents two distinct traditions. By far the biggest is the standard shell tempered ware of this area, while a minor type is a sand tempered ware present as a plain, cord marked and textile marked series. The total sherd count was 10,423 of all types of which 9461 or 91% were of the familiar Mississippian shell tempered types and 962 or 9% were of the sand tempered series.
The sand tempered series are summarized inTable 1. Similar plain and cord marked sherds (Fig. 5) have been called Barnes, (Williams, 1956, p. 204). The textile marked sherds can now be added to this series (Figs.6-7). The cord marked sherds ranged from very coarse to quite fine markings, but definitely favored the coarse variety. The 534 textile marked sherds yielded 293 (55%) that were clear enough to identify the weave. These show the preponderate of simple twined textiles.
It is of interest that the simple twined textiles seem to have a diagonal weft, or at least, in the finished piece as it was applied to wet clay vessels, to show this diagonal weave characteristic. The twisting and twining of the cords however seem to be typically simple twined (Fig. 7).
Edward G. Scully and Stephen Williams first named the Barnes series while working for the University of Michigan’s Central Mississippi Valley survey on Barnes ridge in southeastern Missouri. Williams later defined the type (Williams, 1956, Ph.D. Dissertation) as follows:
“This is a finely tempered plain ware in which the sand particles, although numerous in some specimens are quite small. The texture is such that in running one’s fingers over the surface the sandy nature of the temper is immediately noticed. This description of the temper and texture holds for all the Barnes wares. The shapes are similar to those of the Baytown Plain (Philips, et. al., 1951: 77-78). Barnes Cord Marked: This Cord Marked variety goes hand-in-hand in distribution with the Plain ware, and like it, resembles its clay tempered counterpart, Mulberry Creek Cord Marked, and there is occasionally a folded or added rim strip.”
“This is a finely tempered plain ware in which the sand particles, although numerous in some specimens are quite small. The texture is such that in running one’s fingers over the surface the sandy nature of the temper is immediately noticed. This description of the temper and texture holds for all the Barnes wares. The shapes are similar to those of the Baytown Plain (Philips, et. al., 1951: 77-78). Barnes Cord Marked: This Cord Marked variety goes hand-in-hand in distribution with the Plain ware, and like it, resembles its clay tempered counterpart, Mulberry Creek Cord Marked, and there is occasionally a folded or added rim strip.”
The sand tempered sherds at Lawhorn answer to this description, but the question of vessel shape is left unanswered. One possible basal sherd was cord marked and conical in shape. The characteristic of a folded rim in the cord marked group was not identified in the Lawhorn series.
Figure 5. Cord Marked Sherds and Positive Impressions
Figure 5. Cord Marked Sherds and Positive Impressions
Figure 6. Sand Tempered Textile Marked Sherds and Clay Impressions Showing Simple Twining Weave with Diagonal Pattern of Warp and Weft.(Top and third row are sherds, 2nd and 4th rows are positive impressions)
Figure 6. Sand Tempered Textile Marked Sherds and Clay Impressions Showing Simple Twining Weave with Diagonal Pattern of Warp and Weft.(Top and third row are sherds, 2nd and 4th rows are positive impressions)
Figure 7. Sand Tempered Textile Marked Sherds and Impressions
Figure 7. Sand Tempered Textile Marked Sherds and Impressions
Speaking of sand tempered wares generally and fabric impressed specifically, as an early Woodland movement into the south from the north, Griffin and Sears indicate a relatively early period within the total ceramic horizon of the southeast. In most areas the textile marked tradition dies out by Middle Woodland times. Williams’ description would seem to equate Barnes Cord Marked with Mulberry Creek Cord Marked, which reached its peak during a Middle Woodland period although also present at an earlier time.
All this is of some help in establishing a chronological position for the sand tempered series within the known cultural sequences of this region. It might be construed as adding strength to the belief that there was a considerable time span between the sand tempered and shell tempered wares of the Lawhorn site, and suggests an Early Woodland period of occupation with the sand tempered pottery and the assorted dart points as the only remaining evidence of the early period.
The shell tempered series was 98.7% Neeley’s Ferry Plain and 1.3% decorated in some fashion. These can be summarized as follows inTable 2. All type definitions for the shell tempered series are from Phillips, Ford, Griffin, 1951, Section III.
The inclusion of a Bell Plain Type is so tentative as to be questionable. The few sherds so classified are better considered as a refinement of Neeley’s Ferry Plain. This viewpoint receives additional support with the statement that there was considerable variation in the workmanship shown on Neeley’s Ferry ware, some being well polished and with a finer shell temper. Some sherds that were first thought to be clay tempered were later determined to be shell tempered with the shell leached out. There was almost no lip decoration in the form of nicking or notching. The standard treatment was simply a rounded lip smoothed to the inside and outside vessel walls.
Handles and lugs accounted for 1.4% of the sherd count. Of the identifiable pieces and whole specimens, there are 17 lugs, 2 loop handles, 2 intermediate and 49 strap handles. The lugs showed considerable variation and specialization which may be a local development. The Monette lug, as this local type has been called, is basically a U shaped applique with the ends pointing downward (Fig. 8;1-2). One example was well squared and gives the appearance of an old European churn handle. According to Nash, the cup lug is this same form inverted and these do occasionally turn up in less exaggerated form on the Lower St. Francis River sites. Eight of the lugs are rounded and are molded to the lip. Two are effigy tail lugs one of which was riveted to the vessel rim (Fig. 8;4). The other has a node in the center, outlined by an incised line. Two lugs are rounded and bifurcated. (Table 3).
Figure 8. Pottery Handles and Lugs(No. 1 and 2. Monette lugs, 3. Riveted strap handle. 4. Riveted lug handle, 5. Applique strap handle, 6. Curved strap, 7. Square strap, 8. Round strap)
Figure 8. Pottery Handles and Lugs(No. 1 and 2. Monette lugs, 3. Riveted strap handle. 4. Riveted lug handle, 5. Applique strap handle, 6. Curved strap, 7. Square strap, 8. Round strap)
The loop handle was uncommon and quite small. One was made up of two strands or coils of clay loosely twisted to form the loop. The other is a simple loop that rises above the lip. Both attach to and are possibly riveted to the lip. They attach from lip to upper shoulder area.
Two handles are intermediate between loop and strap. One is attached below the lip. The other is attached at the lip and has a node at the top of the handle.
By far the most common appendage form was the strap handle and these were first divided into three sub groups based on profile shape to show attachment to the vessel wall (Fig. 8;6, 7, and 8). These handle forms, like many of the lug forms, show a high percentage of attachment to the vessel body wall by means of riveting (Fig. 8;3). They are molded to the rim. Of the total of 51 handles, 49 were strap handles. The handles vary from angular to curved in cross-section (Fig. 8;6, 7, 8). These are all simple, unmodified strap handles that have the following variations; 4 are parallel sided, 2 expand toward the lip attachment, 1 expands toward the shoulder attachment and four are undetermined in outline. One has an extension of a notched lip decoration across the top of the handle at the lip attachment.
Twenty-eight handles are bifurcated by nodes or an elevation of the sides to form a ridge on the outer edges and sometimes to give the appearance of a groove down the center (Fig. 9). Often there are ear-like projections on either side, 20 occurring at the top of the strap, but eight lower down toward midpoint (Fig. 10) are less common. All are parallel sided and join at or just below the lip and attach to the shoulder. All seem to be riveted to the shoulders, but molded to the lip. One is angular and has an applique transverse ridge in the center of the handle (Fig. 10).
Two strap handles have three fillets below the handle and extending from it; one on each side and one from the center of the handle. One of the two appears to have a small raised node on one side (Fig. 10; Row 2, right).
A similar handle has only two fillets extending below it. The handle edges are raised; the fillet appears to extend the raised edges onto the shoulders. The top of the handle is flattened and vertically perforated through the flat portion (Fig. 10; Row 2, left).
Another handle, similar in profile to that previously described, does not have the added fillets, but has the flattened top and vertical perforation. The handle is on a rim sherd decorated with a single U-shaped horizontal line along the neck.
Figure 9. Jar Forms
Figure 9. Jar Forms
Figure 10. Pottery Handles
Figure 10. Pottery Handles
Two handles have longitudinal grooves as decorations. One has three U-shaped incisions or grooves and the two nodes at the upper end. The other has 2 single central grooves (Fig. 10; Row 1, left).
Three sherds with handles have been classed tentatively at Matthews Incised (Griffin, 1952, Fig. 122;d). One example shows a hole through the flat upper portion of the strap and this was done while the clay was still plastic (Fig. 10). Two sherds have bifurcated handles, the other has been described as a loop handle. There are two pieces of fillet-tail handles and pieces of five others. These were not identifiable as to type.
Five modeled effigy pottery decorations or attachments were found in the general excavations. Two were painted while the other three were of Neeley’s Ferry paste. One was a human effigy of the full face with a rounded open mouth, quite large and prominent nose and eyes defined only by overhanging brows (Fig. 11). The hair arrangement was similar to bangs indicated along the line of the top of the forehead. One of the painted heads was of a bird, perhaps turkey, showing a trace of red, white and black paint. This could possibly be a negative painted sherd but the evidence was not conclusive. The other painted effigy was Old Town Red and apparently represented some bird form. The other two forms may have been bats and seem to have been facing inside the vessel.
Almost the entire shell tempered pottery complex is of Neeley’s Ferry Plain with an extensive use of strap handles on large jars, many of which were of six to eight gallons capacity (Fig. 9, center). These handles were normally paired and on opposite sides of the vessel. Decorated types are extremely rare, in all less than 2% of the sherds. Of these Old Town Red comprises more than 50%.
Add the small percentage of Carson Red on Buff and Nodena Red and White and these account for over 60% of all decorated types (Fig. 12). Of the balance, only a sprinkling of incised types, one possibly Wallace Incised, are present (Fig. 13). These low totals are possibly accounted for by considering them trade pieces rather than local techniques, or perhaps outside ideas of decoration that had not become fully accepted. One form of local decoration which shows an increase when complete vessels are considered is the pushing out of small areas around the pot to form rounded nodes or projections. Associated with some of these large jars was a crude incising around the shoulder area which was a very poor imitation of the Barton Incised of the St. Francis area. This is very suggestive of a new idea in decoration with little real interest in technical achievement. That these people were skilled enough in ceramics to have done fine work is attested to by the elaboration of workmanship in the strap handle assemblage.
Figure 11. Human Effigy Head
Figure 11. Human Effigy Head
Figure 12. Painted Pottery(1. A large shallow bowl with red painted design on buff background, painted areas intensified with water color, 2. Carson Red on Buff)
Figure 12. Painted Pottery(1. A large shallow bowl with red painted design on buff background, painted areas intensified with water color, 2. Carson Red on Buff)
Figure 13. Decorated Pottery Sherds
Figure 13. Decorated Pottery Sherds
It was possible to identify vessel forms from 3.4% of the shell tempered sherds collected. These forms are listed and their frequency of occurrence shown inTable 4, Column I. The most common forms were the wide mouthed bowl of small to medium size and wide mouthed jars which showed extreme variation in size from small jars of perhaps a pint capacity to very large ones of several gallons capacity (Fig. 9). Water bottles were a very uncommon form of vessel if judged from the sherd collection.
Among the complete vessels recovered the water bottle was over 50% of the total while the sherd collection yielded only 1.3 of this class (Table 4). This is a strong example of a mortuary vessel form which found little use in the daily domestic scene. The water bottle at Lawhorn was apparently not a vessel of utility to the living but only to the dead.
The vessel forms found at Lawhorn can be described as bowls, jars and water bottles.
Three pottery bowls have almost vertical sides with flat bases (Fig. 14;1, 2, 3) while one very crude vessel with vertical sides is round bottomed. Three of the bowls are quite shallow, approaching the plate form but lacking the flattened plate rim (Fig. 14;5). The plate forms identified for Lawhorn were from the sherd collection and these represent 1.8% of the identified shapes. Four other bowls are small round-bottomed pots typical of the Memphis-St. Francis Mississippian groups.
The only recovered vessel showing painted decoration were two shallow bowls. One of these was Carson Red on Buff slipped on both the inside and outside surface (Fig. 12;1). It is a very shallow bowl with a diameter of 3 cm. and a depth of 8 cm. The lip was flat and scalloped around the outer edge. The interior had been painted with a red design composed of four large triangles drawn as opposing parts so that on two the apex was up while on the other pair it was down.