Georgia -- Antiquities; Mounds -- Georgia; Ocmulgee National Monument (Ga.)
In order to place these two types of pottery we must examine their
occurrence on the Georgia coast and in north Georgia. Such a study
reveals that the simple stamping follows directly after fiber tempering
on the coast; and that in north Georgia, where the latter is absent, it
lies immediately above a fabric-marked pottery very similar to Dunlap.
It would seem likely, then, that this latter type of pottery might have
worked its way south by the end of the period in which fiber temper was
in vogue. Both types exhibit a kind of finish which, like the early
cordmarking farther north, resulted from techniques that had probably
been found most effective in working the wet clay. Some sort of
implement was needed for thinning and compacting the vessel walls, and
experiment has shown that a paddle with roughened surface is more
efficient for this purpose than a smooth one. No doubt this is caused by
the more tenacious adherence of the wet clay to the latter. In any
event, different ways were found of roughening a flattened stick or
paddle, whether by wrapping various materials about it or carving it
with deep grooves; and some groups may well have rolled up a piece from
an old broken basket or bit of matting and found it equally useful.
Then, if a smooth surface were desired, the marks of any of these
implements could be erased easily by smoothing with a wet hand.
[Illustration: Reconstructed pottery stamps. Designs taken from sherds
excavated at the Swift Creek site. Total length of paddle, 9 inches.]
[Illustration: Fragments of Swift Creek stamp designs. Scale about
two-fifths.]
The time we have been describing belongs to the general period of
eastern United States archeology known as Early Woodland. The Adena
culture, which apparently spread from centers in the Ohio Valley,
belongs to this period and is well known for its elaborate burial mounds
and other distinctive features which are regarded as typical markers
over a wide area. While no burial mounds are known from middle Georgia
at this time, the fabric-marked and simple-stamped pottery does belong
to a general class of wares occurring also in Adena sites. It seems also
to relate Ocmulgee to a pair of eagle effigy mounds of stone near
Eatonton, Ga.; and bird symbolism is likewise a distinctive Adena
feature, though one more fully developed in the following Middle
Woodland stage. So it appears that a few traits have been found to
connect this period quite definitely with some of the broader currents
affecting other areas in the same time span.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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