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.