114 EARTHENWARE OF 



pottery among the shell-mound peoples or that the decorative art had already 

 been practised and matured in arts that preceded the employment of clay. It may be 

 remarked further that the shapes so far as restored are nearly identical with the pre- 

 vailing shapes of the highest art period of Florida. The evidence of age furnished 

 by conditions of stratification and animal remains may be entirely satisfactory, but 

 determinaton of period and status of culture based on the character of the art con- 

 tents of kitchen refuse must be accepted with caution. This fiber tempered pottery 

 was found by Wyman at Old Town, Old Enterprise, Watson's Landing, Silver 

 Spring and Palatka, but no details of occurrence are given. Mr. Moore obtained 

 specimens from Tick Island, Orange mound, Huntington's, Mulberry mound and 

 many other localities, 1 all the phenomena being observed with the most careful 

 scrutiny. 



Stamped Ware. — The use of the figured stamp and of a variety of figured sur- 

 faces in finishing and decorating pottery was common in Florida. The most tj^pical 

 development of the stamped decoration appears to have taken place in Georgia, 

 but extended into the adjoining States. The use of the wooden paddle-stamp so 

 common at one period in this region is now confined to a single people — the Chero- 

 kees — who to a limited extent practise the art of their ancestors and predecessors. 

 Whether the stamp belonged to that tribe originally or was adopted from tribes of 

 Muskogean or other stock is not determined. 



The highest development of the stamp was in connection with South Ap- 

 palachian wares which had certain well-defined and persistent features of material 

 and shape. Passing out of the central area yielding this ware, features of form, ma- 

 terial and design change as the result of change of physical environment or people. 

 Toward the Atlantic the material changes from a purely silicious paste and temper- 

 ing to a shell tempered clay, and in the Florida peninsula the stamp was chiefly 

 used in decorating the variety of ware made of a fine porous clay without visible 

 tempering. In Florida also there is a change from the large oblong conical pot 

 found farther north to a deep bowl like vessel of medium size and the stamps them- 

 selves seem as a rule less artistic and complex. 



The stamped ware of the St. John's indicates the almost exclusive use of a 

 paddle-stamp the face of which was carved by means of stone, shell or bone knives 

 in checkered patterns, consisting of shallow grooves crossing each other sometimes 

 at right angles and again at oblique angles and numbering generally from five to 

 twelve to an inch. The square or lozenge shaped spaces between the crossed lines 

 being in relief left, when applied to the soft clay, regularly arranged groups of pits 

 as shown in Fig. 2. The Cherokee paddle-stamp, Fig. 3, has the surface character- 

 istics of the St. John's stamps. A modern Cherokee stamped vase is illustrated in 

 Fig. 4, and the paddle used in decorating it is shown in the same connection. 



The use of the stamp in the South Appalache-Florida province may or may not 

 be indigenous. It certainly does not connect along the Gulf coast with Mexico 



1 " Certain shell-heaps of the St. John's River, Florida, hitherto unexplored." American Natural- 

 ist, July and August, 1893. 



