Rethinking Avonlea: Pottery Wares and Cultural Phases

Abstract

It has become conventional in northern Plains archaeology to recognize an Avonlea phase, based on the presence of delicate, well-formed side-notched arrow points, mainly of the Timber Ridge Side Notched type. Over the past few decades, information regarding the associated pottery has slowly accumulated, allowing us to recognize three main wares: net/jabric-impressed, parallelgrooved, and cord-roughened. In this paper, we move away from the concept of a single Avonlea phase, returning to the original idea of Avonlea as a horizon. In so doing, we emphasize regional concentrations of certain pottery wares as the basis for the recognition of particular phases within the Avonlea horizon. It is apparent that some of these pottery wares are also present to the east in Minnesota and adjacent southern Manitoba and northeastern North Dakota. In particular, the netimpressed ware has an Early Woodland presence there. It is postulated, therefore, that most of the Avonlea wares had their origins in this more easterly region, although the impetus behind their westward spread and the manner in which this occurred remain in question.