Ancient Pottery?

[TheJake]

Please let me know if anyone knows what tribe may have made this fragment. I found it in western Vermont in the Pittsford/Rutland area.

 

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[Charl]

Are you sure it's pottery? It looks more like soapstone, aka steatite. It looks like a lug from a soapstone vessel. If so, Late-Transitional Archaic. Don't know tribal names at that distance in time. Nice find.

Just noticed in last photo I can see tiny cavities where iron impurities weathered out. It is soapstone and it would be the lug from a bowl or cup. Figure the 3500 year old range.

Here's a broken soapstone bowl. See the lug? That's what you found plus a bit of the bowl it's attached to. You've got the entire lug!

 

[monsterrack]

I go along with carl it sure looks like soapstone, Very nice find

 

[GatorBoy]

Cool find.
I lived in west Rutland as a child.

 

[TheJake]

Thanks so much for the info. I have heard that the Abenaki Indians were the first in live in the area. Possibly one of theirs? The Otter Creek runs through our property, and the farmhouse is atop a hill on 25 or so acres. Hope to find more.

 

[GatorBoy]

Walk that creek looking at places where gravel has collected.
Take a look at some local artifacts to get an idea of what material to be on the lookout for.
For me..the key is recognizing the material when you see it since you rarely ever see the entire shape when it's amongst other stones and soil.
Good luck.

 

[Charl]

Thanks so much for the info. I have heard that the Abenaki Indians were the first in live in the area. Possibly one of theirs? The Otter Creek runs through our property, and the farmhouse is atop a hill on 25 or so acres. Hope to find more.

Sure, maybe Abenaki, but tribal names are the names historic tribes have called themselves, and we can't talk to people from thousands of years ago; hence we can't be certain on names from that distance in time. In historic times you are basically in the borderland area for Algonquin speaking(Abenaki and all New England tribes) natives and the Iroquois Confederacy of what is now New York. Did you know one of the distinctive point types of the Northeast region(New England, New York, Pa., NJ) is named after the creek that runs through your property? Here it is. There is a link there to show photos of examples of Otter Creek Points:

New York State Museum - Projectile Point Type Collection

 

[Flea-bit Monkey]

Very nice piece.