Bow Only
Senior Member
I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a pottery guy. I'm one of the few pre-Columbian typologists in the SE. Here is an assortment of Woodland pottery found at the site designated as "012." It is now planted in pine trees. A quick glance shows a few pieces of Zoned Red, Weeden Island Plain, Weeden Island Net marked, Weeden Island Incised, Weeden Island Punctate, Fingernail Inscised, maybe some WI Cord Wrapped, and some Swift Creek Complicated Stamped.
A couple pieces are special to me as I know how difficult they are to find. The top left shard is the flared rim from bowl. This is common in Mississippian wares but only seen in a few ceremonial wares during the late Weeden Island time period. Another piece is a scalloped flared rim which is just not found in WI times in utilitarian wares. That piece is just above the 2nd biggest shard and the scallops are easy to see.
To the left of the biggest shard in the middle is a small WI Plain with the characteristic folded rim. The unique part of this bowl is that the rim is pointed has elevated points and the rim is not level like most bowls. It's just hard to find specialty bowls like that.
To the right of the 2nd largest shard is what is the beginning (not quite but close) of a short globular bowl. Bowl shape can be a huge determining factor in ceramic typology as the Woodland peoples used simple, open bowls and the Mississippian peoples often used short, globular bowls. The Woodland peoples did not possess the technology to make short globular bowls. This shard is the beginning attempt to do this. Inland sites in NW FL DO NOT have overlap between WI and Ft Walton peoples. I don't care what the archaeologists may say, it does not exist. I have a couple of pieces from this site that show crude attempts to make a short globular bowls, but they weren't Ft Walton ceramic pieces. They are poor attempts to make that type of pottery. Add in the fact that this site left so many artifacts, I came to the conclusion that this site was either over run and destroyed by another group of people (maybe early Ft Walton) or it was hit by a category 5 hurricane. I can say with 100% certainty that these people did not become Ft Walton peoples (by choice.)
Each of these shards has a story to tell and as an amateur archaeologist, it was my job to try to tell that story. Learning the point types only tells part of the story, the pottery helps tell the rest.
A couple pieces are special to me as I know how difficult they are to find. The top left shard is the flared rim from bowl. This is common in Mississippian wares but only seen in a few ceremonial wares during the late Weeden Island time period. Another piece is a scalloped flared rim which is just not found in WI times in utilitarian wares. That piece is just above the 2nd biggest shard and the scallops are easy to see.
To the left of the biggest shard in the middle is a small WI Plain with the characteristic folded rim. The unique part of this bowl is that the rim is pointed has elevated points and the rim is not level like most bowls. It's just hard to find specialty bowls like that.
To the right of the 2nd largest shard is what is the beginning (not quite but close) of a short globular bowl. Bowl shape can be a huge determining factor in ceramic typology as the Woodland peoples used simple, open bowls and the Mississippian peoples often used short, globular bowls. The Woodland peoples did not possess the technology to make short globular bowls. This shard is the beginning attempt to do this. Inland sites in NW FL DO NOT have overlap between WI and Ft Walton peoples. I don't care what the archaeologists may say, it does not exist. I have a couple of pieces from this site that show crude attempts to make a short globular bowls, but they weren't Ft Walton ceramic pieces. They are poor attempts to make that type of pottery. Add in the fact that this site left so many artifacts, I came to the conclusion that this site was either over run and destroyed by another group of people (maybe early Ft Walton) or it was hit by a category 5 hurricane. I can say with 100% certainty that these people did not become Ft Walton peoples (by choice.)
Each of these shards has a story to tell and as an amateur archaeologist, it was my job to try to tell that story. Learning the point types only tells part of the story, the pottery helps tell the rest.
