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Accokeek
Defining Attributes
Accokeek is an Early Woodland ware that
is sand-tempered or crushed quartz-tempered with cord-marked
exterior surfaces. This pottery is often identifiable by the
pronounced oblique cord-marking, slanting to the right from
the vessel rim.
Chronology
Stratigraphic sequences and radiometric
dating indicate that Accokeek dates from ca. 900 B.C. – 300
B.C.
Distribution
Accokeek pottery is found throughout the
Coastal Plain of Maryland and into Virginia to the James River.
On the Western Shore of Maryland, Accokeek’s core distribution
extends into the Piedmont beyond the headwaters of the Patuxent
River and into the Patapsco drainage. It is also found up
the Potomac River valley to the Monocacy drainage. Accokeek
ceramics shave been recorded on sites throughout the lower
Eastern Shore in both Maryland and Delaware from Dover south.
Description
Paste/Temper
The paste has a sandy texture, ranging from coarse and soft
to medium fine and hard, and is usually friable. Composed
of fine-grained, moderately compact clay, Accokeek pottery
is often reddish due to the clay’s ferruginous content. The
temper consists of coarse to medium fine sand or crushed quartz
that comprises 20% – 50% of the paste. Small amounts
of angular quartzite, mica, and gneiss are sometimes added.
Accokeek pottery as defined in the Potomac River drainage
is tempered with medium to coarse sand and has a very sandy,
gritty texture. In the Patuxent River drainage, crushed quartz
temper predominates and the pottery feels less sandy.
The Moh’s scale hardness for Accokeek sherds ranges between
2.0 and 3.0. Color varies from an oxidized dull black through
brown, red, orange, and gray
to tan and buff, with reddish tans or gray browns generally
the norm.
Surface Treatment
Exterior surfaces are roughened with cord-wrapped paddle impressions
made in a wet clay. The cord-markings are nearly always oriented
diagonally downward to the right from the rim, but horizontal
and vertical impressions have been observed. The cord-marking
is thick and commonly spaced 1 mm – 8 mm apart. Sometimes
when the cordage is loosely wrapped around the paddle resulting
in an over-stamped appearance. Cord-marking commonly extends
from the lip to the base. Smoothed rims and unmarked bases,
however, have been found.
Interior surfaces are smoothed. Some sherds
have uneven interior surfaces that suggests the use of the
hand as an anvil in conjunction with a paddle during manufacture.
Decoration
Accokeek pottery is usually undecorated. Occasionally, some
sherds have smoothed-over cord marking from the base to the
lip, and cord impressions on or just below the lip. Rarely,
incised decorations have been observed on Accokeek pottery
(Stephenson et al. 1963).
Morphology
Accokeek vessels are coil constructed with paddle malleation.
Vessels shapes are conical, semiconical, or occasionally globular
with open mouths. The upper portions are cylindrical from
the rim to the midpoint, or expand slightly outward from the
rim. Rims are vertical or slightly everted, generally blending
into the body 5 cm – 10 cm below the lip. Flattened or rounded
rims have also been observed. Lips vary from straight and
rounded, to flattened or slightly everted. Bits of clay overlapping
the exterior and cord marks along the top are also common.
Bases are conical, semiconical, or occasionally
round in shape, and range between 9 mm - 21 mm thick. Some
basal sherds seem to have been modeled by hand from lumps
of clay, with coil construction beginning 4 cm – 10 cm above
the basal point.
Vessel wall thicknesses decrease from the
base up to rim. Sherd thicknesses range from 6 mm – 8 mm.
Vessel sizes range from medium to large, with diameters ranging
from 25 cm – 65 cm and vessel height ranging from 25 cm –
40 cm. Coil widths range between 8 mm and 12 mm, and coil
breaks are common.
Defined in the
Literature
Robert Stephenson originally defined Accokeek Cord Marked
from pottery excavated by Alice and Henry Ferguson from Accokeek
Creek site, 18PR8, on the floodplain of the Potomac River
in Prince George’s County, Maryland (Stephenson et al. 1963).
Evans (1955) had defined a sand and quartz tempered ceramic
from the Virginia Piedmont that he called Stony Creek, a seldom
used designation today. Egloff and Potter (1982:99) believe
that sherds found in southeastern Virginia are remarkably
similar to Accokeek, but were fabric-, cord- and net-impressed.
They suggest that cord- and net-impressed sherds found north
of the James River should be referred to as Accokeek or Popes
Creek Wares, but south of the James River as Stony Creek.
Dan Mouer (1991) links Accokeek to Virginia’s Elk Island ceramics.
Type Site
Accokeek Creek (18PR8)
|
Radiocarbon
Dates |
| Date |
Sample
# |
Site |
Reference |
| 2960
+ 120;
1010 B.C. |
Beta-34389
|
522
Bridge (44WR329) |
McLearen
1991b |
| 2930
+ 100;
980 B.C. |
Beta-34388 |
522
Bridge (44WR329) |
McLearen
1991b |
| 2800
+ 90;
850 B.C. |
Beta-34386
|
522
Bridge (44WR329) |
McLearen
1991b |
| 2740
+ 150;
790 B.C.
|
Beta-34390
|
522
Bridge (44WR329) |
McLearen
1991b |
References
Egloff and Potter 1982; McLearen
1991b; Mouer
1991; Stephenson
et al. 1963 |