Title

Archaeological Artifacts

Creation Date

before 1900

Description

Artifacts found during the 2017-2018 Pope County Archaeological Survey.
The site produced a substantial artifact sample, more than 80 percent of it from the root ball of a fallen tree. The 217 items from this site included ceramics (n=143), lithics (n=39), bone fragments (n=18), fire-cracked rock (n=1), charcoal (n=1), and metal fragments (n=15).
The ceramic sample includes 5 rims and 12 other sherds from the upper part of vessels, which provide information on decoration and vessel form. The remaining 126 included body sherds, spalls and small crumbs. Most of the sherds were grit tempered (n=91, %=63.6), a smaller number sand tempered (n=29, %=20.3), and a few tempered with both sand and grit (n=23, %=16.1). Surface texture varied from various kinds of fabric and cord impressions to smoothed or partly smoothed to undetermined. Since these categories were not consistently distinguishable nor mutually exclusive, their rates of occurrence were not quantified.
Initial examination of the sherds, especially from the upper part of vessels, suggests that four main ceramics types are distinguishable in this assemblage. These include 1) an un-named, single-cord impressed type; 2) St. Croix-Onamia; 3) a smooth-surface, tool impressed type related to Plains ceramics traditions; and 4) La Salle Creek (Brainerd) or a related type. Other types seem to be present, but are too poorly represented to characterize.
The un-named, single-cord impressed type is represented by at least five sherds, two of them rims. Vessel form seems to include short, insloping necks 15 to 20 mm high, the neck slightly thickened compared to the shoulder, and a smooth curve from neck to shoulder. The lip on one rim sherd may be slightly wedge shaped. The surface in the design field appears to have been smoothed before application of decoration. There is some hint of smoothed-over cordmarking, although the evidence is not clear. No sherds preserved a complete design motif, but the following design elements were represented. On two rims, oblique single-cord impressions were present on the interior, across the lip, and onto the exterior. Below these on the exterior were horizontal single-cord impressions. Two neck sherds from one vessel had ✕designs made by crossing single-cord impressions, followed by a horizontal single-cord impression, followed by another set of ✕ designs. The typology of these sherds isunclear, and they do not match any defined type commonly identified in Minnesota. Although there are references to single-cord impressed ceramics at other sites in west-central to southern Minnesota (see Holley and Michlovic 2013), reporting on these finds is generally not robust. These sherds are likely related in some way to the Bartke vessel from the nearby Bartke site (21-PO-1), but a detailed comparison is not possible because the vessel is missing and the available records consists of a small reproduction of a photo (Wilford et al. 1969:71). Further consideration of possible typology will look more closely at single-cord impressed wares in Wisconsin and Iowa.
St. Croix -Onamia is represented by at least six sherds. One is a small, exfoliated rim, three come from the neck and shoulder, and the other two are small fragments preserving a bit of cord-wrapped stick impressions. They provide little information on vessel form, other than suggesting a rounded lip and a smooth curve from neck to shoulder. No sherds preserve a complete design motif. The larger sherds show parallel horizontal cord-wrapped stick impressions.
The Plains-related type is best represented by at least four sherds, all from the neck and shoulder region. Vessel form seems to include a short, straight neck, probably with a vertical stance; a smooth curve from neck to shoulder, in one case thickened with a reinforcing "rib" on the interior. Vessel walls appear to be thin, and the paste relatively hard with a near-black color throughout although in one specimen the interior of the sherd and interior surface are brown. The decorative field is smooth, possibly smoothed cord marking. There is some suggestion from apparently related body sherds that the lower part of the vessel body could be cordmarked, although this is somewhat speculative. Temper is grit or grit and sand. No sherds preserved a complete design motif, but design elements represented include angled impressions, incised lines, narrow trailed lines and broad diagonal impressions made with an unknown type of object. The most complete panel of decoration presents a possible line of angled impressions at break (see description below); followed by four parallel narrow, incised lines a little more than 1 mm wide and spaced ca. 3 mm apart, made with an object with a rounded tip; followed by angled impressions, pushed in from right to left, ca. 3 mm high and wide, generally contiguous and apparently made with a flat object with a rounded tip (but too large to have made the incised lines; followed by 1 horizontal incised line matching those described above. Another sherd displays incised lines that are not parallel. There are also many body sherds that strongly resemble the neck and shoulder sherds in terms of thickness, paste characteristics, temper, dark color, and surface texture. While it seems likely that many of these body sherds are associated with the neck and shoulder sherds, no effort was made to quantify their presence or characteristics because they could not be consistently distinguished from other body sherds sharing some of these characteristics. They do suggest, however, that the vessels may have been smooth surfaced, relatively thin walled, and may have had a relatively hard paste. The typology of this category is not clear, in part because the sherds are small, but they clearly seem to be related to Plains ceramic traditions and perhaps the Northeastern Plains Village tradition.
At least six sherds have a rolled-cord surface texture. In northern Minnesota this surface treatment is usually associated with La Salle Creek (aka Brainerd Horizontally Corded) ceramics (see Hohman-Caine et al. 2012) or related early ceramic types (e.g., Gregg 1987). This surface treatment is also found on Fox Lake ceramics, which are found in southwestern to south-central Minnesota and into north-central Iowa and parts of eastern South Dakota (Anfinson 1979). Based on the overall distribution of these wares, however, the association with La Salle Creek (Brainerd) is tentatively preferred here.
Lithic artifacts total 39 pieces. These include 6 bipolar cores, 15 flakes, and 16 pieces of shatter. Raw materials present include Fat Rock Quartz (n=16), Knife River Flint (n=10), Red River Chert (n=5), Swan River Chert (n=1), chalcedony (n-3), quartzite (n=2), quartz (n=1), and unidentified rock (n=1).
Faunal remains include 18 pieces, mostly fragments. The majority appear to be mammalian (n=13), but include fish (n=1), turtle carapace or plastron (n=1), and fragments unidentified to taxon (n=3). Some of the mammalian bone may represent natural death assemblages of small mammals.
Other materials collected from the site include charcoal (n=1), fire-cracked rock (n=1), and a small sample of flat fragments of corroded iron or steel sheet metal (n=15).