254 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 118 



fill a gap in the archaeological history of the southeast. I have 

 entered into considerable detail in order to present a method by 

 which the pottery determinants at a given site can be ascertained, 

 and the various sites compared on the basis of the ceramic complex. 



Before the material was laid out for study it was washed and 

 cataloged by sites and according to the location within the site. 

 Due to pressure of other duties and because it was desirable to 

 prepare this report for publication at the earliest possible date, the 

 rim sherds, handles, and other significant pottery fragments were 

 sorted out from the mass of body sherds. All of the rim sherds or 

 other significant sherds from a given site were spread out on a large 

 table, and the various pottery types were grouped together. Since 

 a preliminary study indicated that there were no cultural differences 

 of great import within any of the sites, the pottery from each site 

 was studied as a unit. The basis upon which the division of types 

 was made was simply that those sherds that looked alike were placed 

 together. The characteristics which were most noticeable and valu- 

 able in sorting were the type of surface finish and the shape of the 

 rim. The salt pans and bowls are easily recognizable and practically 

 all of the remaining vessels were variants of jars. The rim sherds 

 representing jars were grouped together without regard to size or 

 very minor differences in rim shape. 



Following the selection of the types of vessels present at a site, the 

 sherds of each type were arranged on the table, numbered, and a 

 chart was prepared which would show the major characteristics of 

 each sherd. The type of chart utilized enables one to obtain not only 

 the total number of sherds with a certain Mnd of surface finish and 

 with a certain rim shape, but it also allows correlation of the various 

 characteristics of the sherds. One can readily recognize any signifi- 

 cant relationship between the degree of flare of the rim and the 

 shape of the lip, or between the type of surface finish and the hard- 

 ness. The cross-section drawings and the illustrations of the pot- 

 tery from the study collection bear the number of the sherd and the 

 number of the chart where the sherd is described. In this way it is 

 possible to obtain a fairly satisfactory idea as to the physical make- 

 up of a good number of the significant sherds. 



I have followed the archaeologist's custom of using the word 

 "tempering" to indicate the material consciously added to the clay 

 and water by the potter in order to insure it to some degree against 

 the stress and strain due to drying and firing. Occasionally the 

 word "aplastic" has been used to relieve the monotony of the repeti- 

 tion of the term "tempering." The hardness was calculated accord- 

 ing to the method recommended by B. March. 1 The area tested was 



1 March, B., Standards of Pottery Description, 1934. 



