Fredricks Check Stamped

Illustrated Specimens

Potsherds, Vessel 2, Vessel 3, Vessel 4, Vessel 6, Vessel 7, Vessel 8, Vessel 12, Vessel 13, Vessel 14, Vessel 16, Vessel 18, Vessel 21, Vessel 24, Vessel 25, Vessel 26, Vessel 31, Vessel 32, Vessel 33, and Vessel 35.

Sample Size

N=1,864 (including five whole vessels and 14 vessel sections).

Distribution

1,864 specimens from Occaneechi features, no specimens from Feature 30 (Haw River phase).

Paste

Method of Manufacture: Vessels were constructed by applying thin annular strips of clay to a basal plate. Welding of adjoining coils apparently was not always successful as most large vessel sections represent the upper rim and neck portion of vessels whose bottoms had separated along coil seams just below the shoulder. Despite these failures, Fredricks Check Stamped vessels appear to have been exceptionally well made. Unlike Fredricks Plain, no examples of hand-modeled check-stamped vessels are present in the ceramic sample.

Temper: As with Fredricks Plain, sherds are tempered predominantly with fine sand (91.9%). Other temper types observed include medium-to-fine crushed quartz (7.3%) and crushed feldspar (0.8%). Almost all crushed quartz tempered sherds are from a single vessel (Vessel 12).

Texture: Even and compact. Temper comprises 20% to 30% of the paste.

Hardness: 2.5-3.5.

Color: Exterior surfaces range from black (7.5YR 2/0) to very pale brown (10YR 8/4) to pink (7.5YR 8/2). In contrast to Fredricks Plain sherds, Fredricks Check Stamped sherds and vessels tend to have darker surfaces. Most interior surfaces are smudged and range in color from very dark gray (7.5YR 3/0) to black (7.5YR 2/0).

Surface Finish (Exterior)

The exterior surface has been stamped with a carved paddle possessing a square to diamond-shaped grid pattern comprised of parallel grooves cut perpendicular or nearly perpendicular to one another. Lands usually are 1-2 mm wide and rarely are more than 3-5 mm apart. Stamp impressions are typically faint, shallow, and hard to discern, suggesting either the use of worn paddles or, more likely, final stamping once the exterior surface had partially dried. Given this characteristic, it seems likely that several of the sherds classified as Fredricks Plain represent sherds from poorly-stamped Fredricks Check Stamped vessels. A single reconstructed vessel section (Vessel 12 from Feature 18) does not conform to this pattern; instead, it has large checks (lands 3-4 mm wide and spaced 8-9 mm apart) that are boldly applied. Interestingly, this vessel is tempered with medium crushed quartz rather than fine sand and occurred in association with a broken simple-stamped vessel (Vessel 11) with the same tempering material.

Surface Finish (Interior)

Of the 1,860 sherds that can be classified according to interior surface finish, all but two (99.9%) are smoothed. All of the small vessel and vessel section interiors are smudged and contain deposits of soot and carbonized organic material (unidentified). Most large vessel sections also possess similar characteristics.

Decoration

Decoration of Fredricks Check Stamped vessels consists solely of oblique incisions or linear impressions along the lip and occurs on 33.7% of the 187 rimsherds examined. As with Fredricks Plain, drilled sherds are relatively common (n=23) and indicate attempts to repair cracked vessels.

Form (click to see small and large vessel profiles)

Rim: Of the 187 rimsherds in the sample, 70.0% are everted, 9.1% are straight, 2.1% are inverted, and 18.8% are indeterminate.

Lip: Lip profiles are predominantly straight-sided and flat (73.3%) but occasionally are either thickened and flat (16.6%) or straight-sided and rounded (10.1%).

Body: All 19 whole vessels and vessel sections represent restricted jars.

Base: Slightly pointed to rounded.

Thickness: 2-4 mm (28.9%), 4-6 mm (44.2%), 6-8 mm (22.4%), 8-10 mm (1.7%), >10 mm (0.2%), Indeterminate (2.6%). These data indicate that Fredricks Check Stamped vessel walls are significantly thinner than those of Fredricks Plain vessels.

Size: In addition to the five whole pots that were recovered, 13 vessel sections are sufficiently complete to allow determinations of overall vessel size. These specimens suggest the presence of two major size categories. Small jars, represented by three vessel sections (Vessels 3, 18, and 24) and all five whole vessels (Vessels 6, 7, 8, 14, and 16), range from 12-20 cm in orifice diameter (mean=15.9, s.d.=2.37, n=8) and from 11-18 cm in height (mean=14.2, s.d.=3.12, n=5). Large jars, represented by 10 vessel sections (Vessels 2, 4, 12, 13, 25, 26, 31, 32, 33, and 35), range from 25-34 cm in orifice diameter (mean=30.1, s.d.=2.91, n=10) and from 31-36 cm in height (mean=34.3, s.d.=1.92, n=4).

Comments

Fredricks Check Stamped was the major ceramic type recovered from Occaneechi features at the Fredricks site and, together with Fredricks Plain, comprise over 90% of all sherds recovered from feature contexts. Although strict functional studies of vessels representing these two types has not been undertaken, observations made during the analysis regarding vessel form and condition indicate that Fredricks Plain and Fredricks Check Stamped may be functional complements of one another. Differences in overall vessel size, morphological variability, and vessel wall thickness, together with a prevalence of sooting and caked residues on the interiors of check-stamped vessels and corresponding absence on plain vessel interiors, suggest that Fredricks Check Stamped jars probably functioned primarily as cooking vessels and secondarily as storage jars while Fredricks Plain vessels probably were used more for storage and perhaps culinary activities. Moreover, these two types seem to represent the primary assemblage of pottery vessels that were manufactured by the Occaneechi inhabitants of the Fredricks site. Other types, excluding Uwharrie Net Impressed which is argued to be contamination from an earlier occupation (see Uwharrie Net Impressed description), may represent vessels that were either made elsewhere or made locally by non-Occaneechi potters.

The predominance of check stamping in the ceramic assemblage is somewhat problematic in that few other late sites within the region contain more than minor amounts of check-stamped sherds and almost none are reported from surveys and test excavations along the upper Roanoke River, the supposed homeland of the Occaneechi (see Miller 1962). If Fredricks Check Stamped is derived from Hillsboro Check Stamped, which comprises about 14% of the ceramic assemblage from the earlier nearby Wall site (Davis 1987), then reconstructions of cultural developments within the Eno drainage may be more complex than previously thought. In any event, Hillsboro Check Stamped represents the sole precedent for check stamping within the northern North Carolina Piedmont.