Identifying Grog in Archaeological Pottery
Presentation
Overview
Overview
Description
Constructing ceramic sequences by assigning pottery samples to types that relate to specific geographic regions and time periods is an important archaeological tool for understanding prehistoric culture. Many regional sequences of Woodland period pottery in the Southeastern U.S. include grog-tempered types, and often the identification of grog is a sufficient condition for classifying a potsherd to a particular type. Regrettably, the identification of grog in archaeological pottery is currently not a straightforward process. To the archaeologist, grog is pulverized or crushed ceramic material that is added to clay by the potter to change the clay’s workability or firing properties; however, natural clay often includes lumps, such as clay clasts, argillaceous fragments, or hematitic clots that can closely resemble grog. Distinguishing among naturally occurring clay lumps and grog can be difficult even microscopically in thin section. This paper describes the petrographic analysis of grog-tempered pottery replicated under anthropologically appropriate experimental conditions.
