A Ceramic Analysis of a Multi-Mound Center in Southeastern Oklahoma: Stylistic Variation at the Clement Site (34MC8)

Abstract

The Clement site (34MC8) is a multiple mound ancestral Caddo site located in McCurtain County in southeastern Oklahoma. The site contains two mounds, at least four structures, multiple middens, and is accompanied by two additional sites (34MC9, 10), though the exact location of the latter two is currently unknown. Clement was first excavated in 1941 by the WPA, and the decorated ceramics collected during this period of field work are the focus of this study. I analyzed a total of 1,120 decorated sherds recording several attributes for each including provenience, weight, thickness, main decorative type, and temper type. Additional attributes were recorded for the 271 rim sherds in this sample such as rim profile, rim form, lip shape, estimated orifice diameter, and overall vessel form. Since focus of this study is decorative variation, I also analyzed a subsample of 716 sherds using a modified descriptive system to record as much detail as possible for each main decorative type. Ceramics were then divided into fine wares and utilitarian wares, and their distributions and attribute correlations were analyzed. The results of this analysis were used to answer the following questions: 1.) Does the frequency and distribution of chronologically sensitive attributes support current interpretations of the Clement site? 2.) Do the distributions of fine wares versus utilitarian wares at Clement align with those seen at other Caddo sites in the region such as the Woods (34MC104) site? Three additional points of interest regarding the ceramics themselves were also considered during the analysis: A.) What is the overall decorative and temper variation of Clement? B.) Is there a significant correlation between decorative type and temper in the Clement collections? C.) Does a finer grained analysis of ceramic decorative variation reveal patterns that are otherwise obscured by a simple attribute analysis? While these are simple questions with no direct implications for studying past behavior and culture, they were able to help with answering the primary research questions of this study This research was approached with a “communities of practice” theoretical framework to better understand the behaviors, social networks, and identities of the Caddo people at Clement through the study of their ceramic material culture.