30 BULLETIN 183, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the limitations of this procedure granted, it is nevertheless evident 

 that the pottery remains present considerable variety, but their frag- 

 mentary nature precludes a clear and complete definition of each of 

 the wares apparently represented. It should be borne in mind, too, 

 that while most sherds segregate themselves rather easily into one of 

 three or four varieties, there are numerous specimens of intermediate 

 types whose exact position is not clear. In the ensuing remarks the 

 significant features of each of the more common or outstanding types 

 have been noted, but there is no attempt to adhere to a rigid classifica- 

 tion that would include every sherd. 



Common to nearly all sherds, and to the vessels as well, is crushed 

 rock or grit tempering; no examples of shell, sherd, bone, or vegetal 

 aplastic have been identified. Microscopic examination of several 

 typical crushed sherds reveals the fact that all contained quartz, 

 feldspar, and mica and that in every instance these inclusions closely 

 resembled particles of the same minerals derived from the crumbling 

 of granite. Since a number of lumps of weathered or fire-fractured 

 granite were found in the site, it seems reasonable to view this as one 

 source of tempering materials. In size the inclusions range from fine 

 (under 0.25 mm. diam.) to very coarse (over 4 mm. diam.), most 

 falling between 1.5 and 2.5 mm. The paste is generally dark gray- 

 brown in color, often nearly black, but in many sherds has been fired 

 more or less completely to a red or orange-buff. Freshly broken 

 surfaces have a granular appearance, and the breaks generally are 

 irregular. Hardness ranges from about 2.5 (cryolite) to very nearly 

 5 (apatite) ; most of the sherds tested could be scratched by celestite 

 (hardness 3.5). The most carefully finished sherds, which are also 

 hardest, are generally thin, well smoothed, and finely tempered ; con- 

 versely, a thick profile, coarse and abundant temper, and friability 

 go together. These heavy coarse sherds crumble readily when wet, 

 and unless first immersed in a liquid cement mended pieces tend to 

 break easily and repeatedly. 



The incomplete vessel shown in plate 3, a, illustrates one of the rarer 

 wares from the site. It is made of dark-gray clay (hardness ca. 

 2.5), soft when wet, and has gi-avel inclusions. The latter are mod- 

 erately fine in the upper portions of the jar but near the base be- 

 come very coarse and abundant and show on the inner surface. The 

 exterior is finely cord-roughened; the impressions, nearly horizontal 

 at the rim, become increasingly oblique on the body and almost ver- 

 tical just above the base. Interior surfaces are poorly smoothed and 

 uneven, partly owing to the coarseness and to a careless manipula- 

 tion of the aplastic. The rim, unthickened, flares outward; the lip 

 is flat with partly smoothed-over cord impressions. About 18 mm. 

 below the lip a row of bosses encircles the vessel, each unit having 

 been punched outward from the interior with a small cylindrical 



