“A very different kettle of fish”: whole vessels from the Main Burial Complex at Crystal River (8CI1)

ABSTRACT

The “allure of the exotic” dominates both the substance and practice of the archaeology of the Hopewell phenomenon in eastern North America. Ceramics have often been considered less important to Hopewellian exchange, perhaps because they are typically considered local products. I review whole vessels recovered by C. B. Moore from the Crystal River site (8CI1) and curated at the National Museum of the American Indian. Although limited to macroscopic description of form, paste, and decoration, this analysis suggests that ceramic vessels were commonly imported, probably mostly from other ceremonial centers within the region. More than just byproducts of broader interactions, extra-local ceramic vessels were integral to the development of Crystal River by materializing regional alliances and the metaphorical understanding of community as container.

KEYWORDS:

• Ceramics
• Hopewell
• exchange
• early villages
• metaphor
• alliance building

Acknowledgments

I thank the National Museum of the American Indian, especially former collections manager Victoria Cranner, for facilitating access to the Crystal River vessels. I also extend appreciation to colleagues Ann Cordell, Trevor Duke, and Neill Wallis for bringing to my attention vessels comparable to the Crystal River specimens. An earlier version of this paper was presented in the symposium “Practicing Pottery: Method and Theory in Southeastern Ceramic Analysis” at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Augusta, Georgia, in 2018. Thanks to Paul Thacker for the invitation to participate in the session and to discussant Vin Steponaitis for insightful commentary. Thanks also to three anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions for improving the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Note on the contributor

Thomas J. Pluckhahn is professor of anthropology at the University of South Florida, Tampa.

Data availability statement

The ceramic vessels from Crystal River that are the focus of this study are curated at the National Museum of the American Indian. Data pertaining to the artifacts are maintained in the Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

Additional information

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant number 1026248. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.