• Hampson ID: HZ 1841
• Form: Bottle

Perhaps the most fundamental distinction in classifying late Mississippi period pottery from the Central Mississippi Valley involves the size of the particles of crushed shell added to clay as a temper. Along much of the St. Francis River (i.e., the traditional Parkin phase), shell temper generally is relatively coarse, and the paste is called Mississippi Plain. In contrast, at sites closer to the Mississippi River (e.g., the traditional Nodena and Walls phases), particles of shell temper generally are quite small, and the ceramic paste is called Bell Plain. In all areas bowls and bottles tend to be made with a Bell Plain paste, while jars and pans more typically exhibit a Mississippi Plain paste. As should be evident from our use of qualifiers such as "generally," the actual differences in temper between subareas ("phases") involves relative percentages of the two paste types. Moreover, there is considerable gradation between coarse shell particles and fine shell particles; the extreme examples are easy to differentiate, but there is a sizable "gray area" between the extremes. The bottle from the Hazel site shown are good examples of the difficulties in differentiating between Mississippi Plain and Bell Plain. Our inclination is to call the vessel on the left Bell Plain and that on the right Mississippi Plain, yet if the vessel on the left was from Upper Nodena, we might classify it as Mississippi Plain because the shell particles are a bit larger than the norm for Bell Plain at Upper Nodena. Further, the shell particles visible in both vessels are generally smaller than the typical Mississippi Plain paste at Hazel. We sincerely hope that some enterprising graduate students will perform the painstaking petrographic analyses necessary to help clarify the situation. As to the vessels themselves, the bottle on the left has an annular base and four dimples high on the shoulder; it is 7.75 inches tall. The other, 7 inches tall, lacks an applied base, but has three plain applique medallions on the shoulder.