306 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETED^OLOGY [Bull. 182 



they would have been placed with the open mouth over a fire is beyond 

 our reasoning. 



We have found that steatite vessels were made and used during the 

 Archaic, and this practice carried over to a small degree into the 

 early part of the Woodland. 



Harrington (1922) mentioned that fragments of steatite, vessels 

 have been found in association with the people of the "Kound Grave" 

 culture of the Archaic in the upper Tennessee, while Lewis and Kne- 

 berg ( 1946 ) , on the other hand, state : 



We have found no evidence in Tennessee to indicate that the steatite vessel 

 was used by any other than the Woodland peoples. On this (Hiwassee) and 

 other sites the sherds occurred in association with the Hamilton Focus, and they 

 have always been present on sites of the earlier Woodland manifestations, the 

 Candy Creek Focus. On sites of the latter focus, they occur in greater abun- 

 dance than on the Hamilton sites, but this can probably be attributed to the 

 closer Integration of the Candy Creek villages. Extensive deposits of soap- 

 stone were available about 140 miles to the eastward, and it is quite likely that 

 the vessels were manufactured at the quarries In order to facilitate transpor- 

 tation. 



Steatite deposits exist either in the basin or immediately adjacent 

 to the reservoir. The largest deposit occurs only a few miles to the 

 southeast of La Crosse, Va., on the Meherrin River and several ab- 

 original quarries are known to exist there. There are other deposits 

 in Amelia, Albemarle, Bedford, Brunswick, and Goochland Counties 

 in Virginia, all of which were easily accessible to the aborigines. 

 Earlier, Bushnell (1940 b, p. 472) wrote: 



There are no known references in the early nari'atives to Europeans having 

 witnessed the actual use of soapstone by the Indians, although it may have been 

 known to the native tribes in some regions until contact with the whites. 



Webb (1940, p. 66) and others found that steatite vessels do occur 

 in Archaic sites in association with shell mound burials and "it would 

 seem certain that a few vessels of sandstone and steatite were in use 

 at this site long before pottery was known or used on this midden." 

 Later Webb and Snow (1945) noted that steatite was rare in Adena 

 sites but it does occur. 



Pottery making was well conceived when first introduced into this 

 section of Virginia. Such a bold statement is based upon the assump- 

 tion that the technique by which fillets or coils of wet clay were "ce- 

 mented" or "welded" together to build or fashion a vessel did not 

 come into being full bloom overnight, but that much thought and 

 experimentation had to be expended before it could become a reality. 

 Coiling techniques, counter to modeling, not only proved to be better 

 in fashioning vessels but also placed the potter in an advantageous 

 position to control her materials so that she could vary the size and 

 shape of the vessel at will. 



