Prehistoric Ceramic Production Variation during the Early and Middle Woodland at the Richter Site, Door County, Wisconsin

Summary

The Richter site (47DR80) located on Washington Island, Door County Wisconsin was excavated by the University of Wisconsin field school during 1968 and 1973. Large quantities of ceramic materials were recovered. This site was identified as belonging to the Middle Woodland North Bay culture as defined by Mason. Among the body sherds were those with smooth or cordmarked exterior surfaces. Smooth surfaced sherds exhibited breaks along coil lines, indicative of coil construction technique. Meanwhile, coil breaks were not recorded on cordmarked sherds indicating a manufacturing technique based on fusing slabs of clay utilizing a cord wrapped paddle and anvil. The Richter site data indicate that surface finish results from variable manufacturing techniques, and may not be strictly decorative in nature. Furthermore, there is evidence of temporal differences in the two construction methods at Richter. Cord marked slab vessels appear to be associated with Early Woodland period site occupation, while smoothed coiled vessels, which are very similar to those found at Laurel sites, are associated with Middle Woodland occupation at the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21106