While the application currently searches for matches using an existing design database, future development will also allow it to identify new designs that have not yet been recognized. Named Snowvision after Frankie Snow, archaeologists upload 3D scans of sherds into the application, which then searches a database of reconstructed pottery designs to identify possible matches. In recent years, archaeologists doing this type of “design analysis” recognized the potential of computer-aided design matching, such as is used in law enforcement to search for fingerprint matches, and so are now developing a computer application to identify matches in complicated stamped pottery designs. SnowVision Complicated Stamped Scanning ProjectĪ student at UWGA scanning pottery for SnowVision Type: Pottery that shares similar style, attributes, and time period.Tempers include natural fibers, sand, crushed rocks, shell, or other pieces of pottery called grog. Temper can be naturally occurring in the clay or added to the clay when the pot is made. Temper helps to prevent cracking or breaking when the pottery is fired, and also makes the finished pot more durable. Temper: Some material in the clay that makes the pot stronger.Sherd: A fragment of pottery that has broken off of a larger pot.Pots come in many different shapes and sizes. Pot: A vessel made from fired clay used for cooking and storage.Once fired, it is considered to be a ceramic. Firing: The process of heating soft clay to a very high temperature to harden it.

Decorative methods included paint, punctuations, incisions, stamping, fabric impressions, and many others. Pots can be decorated before they are fired or after. Decoration: The embellishments and designs on the surface of the pottery, usually the exterior surface.This is the method that was used in precontact pottery in North America. Coil Built: The use of long strands of clay to build a pot by molding the coils into the desired shape.Some Precontact Pottery Terms used by Archaeologists Archaeologists have identified hundreds of different types of precontact pottery in Georgia based on attributes such as the location where they are found, temper, and decoration.Įtowah (Northwest Georgia) Complicated Stamped Pottery, Image Retrieved from an entry written by Mark Williams of the University of Georgia in the New Georgia Encyclopedia, after Wauchope 1966.īecause different types of pottery were made at different times, archaeologists can use pottery to construct chronologies of an archaeological site, make general assumptions about a site’s age, and make comparisons between different archaeological sites. Archaeologist use the variations in shape, decoration, and other attributes to sort pottery into different groups known as Types. Some are plain, meaning they have no decorations, while others can be highly decorated with complex designs made in the clay or painted on the surface. Click here to read more about Stallings Island. You can read more about Stallings Island here. Stallings Island Pottery is unique for its age (it was made over 4,000 years ago!) and its natural fiber Temper. The oldest known pottery in North America comes from an archaeological site along the Savannah River near Augusta, Georgia called Stallings Island.

It is likely that the invention of pottery happened independently in several places over time. This pottery was mainly used for cooking food and storage. Prior to European arrival in North America, known as the Precontact era, Native Americans had been making and using pottery for thousands of years.

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