Thirteenth and fourteenth century ceramic decoration and social groups in the central great Plains

Abstract

This paper considers possible social groups and interactions on the thirteenth through fifteenth century central Plains by examining patterns of ceramic rim face and upper body decoration. My analysis tabulates design motifs by site and/or locality, identifying a basic dichotomy between the northern / western area of the central Plains and the southern / eastern area, along with a third distinct pattern in the set of anomalously large sites on Ponca Creek in northeastern Nebraska. In the north and west, potters often used a diverse set of motifs on the faces of paneled rims and sometimes put Oneota designs on vessel upper bodies. In the south and east, they rarely decorated the face of any form of rim and sometimes put a pattern of alternating triangles filled with opposed diagonal lines on vessel upper bodies. This dichotomy maps onto a distinction between ossuary and cemetery burials and likely defines a social boundary between groups with long-standing interaction with different regions to the east of the Plains. The Ponca Creek data show a mixture of central Plains and Oneota styles along with hints of other regional patterns that may suggest the existence of a multi-ethnic community.

KEYWORDS:

• central Plains tradition
• ceramic decoration
• social boundaries

Acknowledgements

Particular thanks to Don Blakeslee, who was incredibly generous with his unpublished data on pottery from northeastern Nebraska and with his thoughts on these issues in general. Thanks also to Matt Reed, Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Pawnee Nation, for his time, input, and support of our work at 25BD1. Comments from Bill Billeck, Joe Tiffany, Lauren Ritterbush, and an anonymous reviewer improved this immensely. Errors and/or heresies are mine alone.

Disclosure statement

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

Notes

1 25BD1 is also known as the Lynch site and is named for the town of Lynch, Nebraska, immediately adjacent to the site. I refer to it here by its Smithsonian number in anticipation of a decision by the Pawnee Nation about the name they would like archaeologists to use to refer to it.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Douglas B. Bamforth

Douglas B. Bamforth teaches in the Anthropology Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research interests are in the Plains Village and Paleoindian periods and in lithic analysis, particularly microwear analysis. He is currently working on the archaeology of Ponca Creek in northeastern Nebraska.