Ceremonial and Domestic Products of Aboriginal New England

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56 MASSACHUSETTS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
with another to join them more firmly together. However,
when this process of stick-wiping was done with
only the frayed end of a stick in a haphazard irregular
way, the coils are found to separate badly with an
apparent lack of adhesion. Such evidence indicates
that skillful stick-wiping was by no means universal;
required years to perfect. As a result, Stage 2 pottery
remains do not all exhibit the same high quality of
tensile strength.
During this second stage, pots retained the same
conoidal shape as that of the first, but occasionally,
with a constriction of neck, doubtless for aesthetic
reasons. From this it would seem that potters were
striving to get away from the stiff appearance of
straight necks. Another departure from the past was
the occasional formation of sharply undercut bottoms
(Exhibit #3). However, this variation is rare and
may have been confined to small vessels to enable
them to sit upright on the ground when used as storage
containers.
Another marked change is seen in the temper
used for strengthening the ware. From the coarse,
and at times, very coarse mineral temper of the earliest
pottery, it now was reduced to medium sized
grains. In addition, potters frequently used crushed
shell for temper. Shell had been experimented with
for this purpose toward the close of Stage 1 times,
but only infrequently and with poor results. However,
by the start of the next stage, satisfactory
results were obtained from the use of shell as well as
of crushed stone; the two seem to have been interchangeable.
Stage 2 -Intermediate - A.D. 1000
1. Shape - conoidal with a more or less pointed
base; sharply undercut at times - rare.
2. Teck - either straight, or somewhat constricted.
3. Rim - usually flat, infrequently rounded,
everted lip sometimes both inward and outward,
often with simple scored decoration on
top and outside of edge.
4. "'are - thick or thin, as may have been
required.
5. Construction - coiled, with improved joining
of coils.
6. Surface - stick-wiped, or finger or toolsmoothed
inside; often cord-marked outside,
slightly stick-wiped at times.
7. Decoration on neck - simple motifs; techni