Iowa Pottery	by David Marolf
Central States Archaeological Societies 2021 January Journal	Manchester, Iowa

This excerpt from "Iowa Pottery" published in the 2021 Central States Archaeological Societies 2021 January Journal Read this and mores in the Central States Archaeological 2021 January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2022

In most private Iowa collections, pottery, being fragile, consists of potsherds1 of broken vessels discovered lying on the surface of tilled agriculture fields and substrates of streams and rivers. The odds of finding a complete piece of pottery while surface hunting is nearly zero. Complete pottery vessels in Iowa are usually found during excavations or possibly washing out of a gully or stream bank.

Pottery and potsherds can reveal a significant amount of information about the culture and lifestyle of the ancient inhabitants of Iowa’s forest and prairie habitats. Pottery is a distinct indication of a more sedentary or less nomadic lifestyle. Makes sense, nobody wants to lug cumbersome, fragile, heavy dishes for miles on foot two or three or more times every year. Pottery also coincides with the advent of more agrarian cultures and as populations grew people became less dependent on strictly hunting for meat and gathering roots and fruits 2.

When I was a teenager, I hiked to a distant pasture along a major stream in Decatur County, Iowa to see if it might happen to be an ancient campsite. This previously pastured hill that rose directly adjacent to the stream had recently been tilled, possibly for the first time ever, for reseeding. I soon began finding evidence of prehistoric occupation such as cobblestones that had obviously been exposed to fire and the debitage of tool knapping (i.e. flakes of chert). As I continued to search this newly discovered site I stumbled upon several sherds of pottery in an area about 2 or 3 feet in circumference. Being a novice collector at the time, I gathered up the severa visible sherds (Figs.1,2), stuck them in my pocket and went on searching the site for other more desirable artifacts. That day, in addition to the pottery, I found.....

 

Read other great columns in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2021 January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2020