A Comparative Ceramic Analysis of Motifs from Three Sites in the Cambria Locality, Minnesota

Summary

The Cambria phase (AD 1050-1300) is an archaeological complex primarily centered on the elevated terraces of the Minnesota River in south-central Minnesota. Cambria phase pottery demonstrates technical and stylistic influences from several different late prehistoric cultural traditions, including Mississippian, Plains Village and Late Woodland. Cambria ceramics are currently classified as part of the Initial Middle Missouri Variant, but certain affinities are evident between the grit-tempered, rolled rim ceramics of the Cambria phase and the Powell-Ramey series at the Middle Mississippian site of Cahokia in west-central Illinois. However, the nature and degree of the relationship between these cultural areas has never been defined clearly. In order to identify the range of variation within Cambria ceramics, a comparative attribute analysis was completed using ceramic assemblages from the Cambria, Price and Owen D. Jones sites, which are collectively referred to as the Cambria Locality. This paper presents the results of a motif analysis that categorized individual design elements and identified four design field patterns. The results are interpreted at multiple levels of analysis, but primarily are focused on contextualizing inter-site motif and design field variation in a micro-regional context within southern Minnesota. In addition, possible extra-regional origins of certain motif packages are discussed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17558