griffin] ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NORRIS BASIN 267 



In the analysis of this ware most of the attention was devoted to the 

 rim sherds bearing textile impressions. 



Two minor subdivisions were made in this large group on the basis 

 of the relation between the application of the textile and the rim and 

 lip treatment. It was found that on half of the sherds the lip was 

 quite wide and that the textile extended up the side of the vessel to 

 the lip (Chart XI). The other half of this group has a smoothed 

 outer rim and the lip does not reach the thickness common in the 

 first (Chart XII). The first group of 40 sherds is somewhat coarser 

 and somewhat harder than group B. The hardness range is only 

 from 2 to 2.5 and 82 percent of the sherds have a hardness of 2-2.5 ; 

 i. e., they can be scratched with the fingernail but not with gypsum. 

 The texture is either medium or medium fine. The texture of the 

 salt pans as a group is the coarsest at this site. The color of the 

 sherds is usually grayish tan or grayish brown. A few of the 

 sherds are reddish brown. The interior surfaces are a lighter color 

 as they do not have as much gray. There is little evidence of smoke 

 discoloration on these sherds. This might infer that if these vessels 

 were used as evaporators for salt it was not done over a fire. 



The exterior surface of this ware in most cases is obscured by the 

 textile impression. The sherds classed as group B have a smoothed 

 upper rim. The interior surface in almost every case has been 

 smoothed and the narrow horizontal striations bespeak a smoothing 

 stone, shell, or stick. Only rarely do very fine parallel striations 

 occur such as might be caused by the fingers. The few specimens of 

 salt-pan ware that do not have the textile impression have interior 

 surfaces that are much more smoothed than are the exterior. 



The textile or fabric impressions on the outside of the salt pan 

 constitute one of the hall marks of this type of ware. By far the 

 most common weave is the plain twine weave. In my discussion of 

 the various types of weaves I shall consider the passive element as 

 the warp and the active element as the weft. In the large salt pan 

 illustrated in plate 80, <z, the closely spaced lines represent the warp 

 elements while the weft threads caused the impressions of the wider- 

 spaced lines. This sherd also illustrates the most prevalent type of 

 weaving found at this site. In this weave the two active weft ele- 

 ments alternately twine over and under each succeeding warp thread. 

 The warp and weft threads are perpendicular to each other and 

 usually result in a rectangular mesh. The size of the rectangle 

 varies with the spacing of the warp and weft. The width of five 

 warp and five weft threads is given in Charts XI and XII. I do 

 not believe that there are any significant differences in the size of 

 the rectangles as recorded in the two charts. On Chart XI it will 

 be seen that only four sherds could definitely be identified as having 

 a weave other than the plain twining. This second type I am calling 



