NO. 13 ARCHEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS IN FLORIDA FEWKES 21 



hardly believe they were handmade but must have been mechanically 

 applied (pi. 14, B). 



The most common stamped designs are the checker patterns, which 

 include square, rectangular, and diagonal, formed by different 

 arrangement of the outlines of the stamp. Under the category of 

 stamped designs may also be mentioned the circular, oval and other 

 regular figures formed by curved lines, spiral to parallel. The 

 number of these geometrical patterns is large and they seem to 

 occupy much the same relations to the undecorative pottery and 

 that with elaborate designs that the corrugated pottery of the pueblos 

 does to the painted ware or that with conventional or realistic 

 figures. 



The great variety of forms of these stamped designs indicates 

 to the author's mind a considerable infusion of elements of pottery 

 decoration from outside and points to a northern origin. While the 

 stamped pottery from Weeden Island is believed to be older than that 

 with punctured designs, and possibly lies under it stratigraphically, 

 the author is not at present able to definitely make up his mind on 

 its sequence.^ Thousands of fragments with stamped designs were 

 found, including all those recorded from southeastern United States 

 as well as the Florida peninsula. 



SHELL OBJECTS FROM LOWER LAYER 



The excavations made at Weeden Island revealed a considerable 

 number of implements made of shell and a few of bone. These 

 objects occur at all depths from the low-est to the highest, and 

 assume a variety of forms. Perhaps the most numerous of the shell 

 utensils were drinking cups made of conch shells, the lip being 

 artificially smoothed and the spire formed into a handle. Drinking 

 cups of this kind containing the " black drink " were placed upon 

 the graves of the dead, according to early writers. These shells 

 were used in ceremonials and are represented in certain early illus- 

 trations which represent shell drinking cups placed on a mound of 

 earth with a group of mourners surrounding them. One of the 

 Indians, evidently a chief, is sometimes figured drinking from a shell 

 cup. A fairly large number of these cups was found on top of the 

 mound at Weeden Island. 



Weapons made from fossil conch shells are also represented.^ 

 Several celt-shaped objects of celt form but made from the lips of 



*See Nelson's "Chronology in Florida," Anthrop. Papers, Amer. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist, vol. XXII, part 2, 1918. 



*A number of these are figured by Mr. Moore and other students. 



