Just a Grog Sherd Livin’ in a Shell World: Mississippian Microhistories of Practice in Ceramic Production

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Carbonized shell temper has traditionally been seen as one of the defining hallmarks of Mississippian Period societies in the Midwestern and Southeastern US. The Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Survey (Phillips, Ford, and Griffin 1951) solidified the importance of shell temper in distinguishing Mississippian Period sites and occupation levels from earlier ceramic practices that used grog and crushed stone as tempering agents. The continued use and superficial application of Phillips, Ford, and Griffin’s (as well as others) ceramic types and downplaying (or ignoring) of multiple and mixed tempers in the analysis of ceramic assemblages has perpetuated the perception that shell was king during the Mississippian Period. Drawing on digital microscopy, we present ceramic evidence from Alabama, Indiana, and Missouri identifying the presence of grog and mixed tempering practices at the bookends of the Mississippian Period. We argue that the presence of these tempers were part of the human-ceramic entanglements that part of the processes of Mississippianization.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24132