Completely Intact Lenape Clay Vessel

[NJrocks]

Hello. This is my first post to this forum. Nice to meet you all.

I found a completely intact Lenape pottery vessel. I scouted an undeveloped wooded lot nearby and determined where the brook flowed before it was redirected to accomodate the housing development. After finding a dipped path that I determined to be part of the dried riverbed, I brushed the layers of leaves off the surface and this neatly popped out of the soil into my lap. I have been uncovering Eastern Woodland artifacts for years and I must say this is the best pottery find I have found. Completely intact! I determine it to be middle Woodland period. I live in Central NJ where the Unami speaking Lenape people lived. Their pottery style is similar to that of the geographically adjoining Iroquoian, Munsee, and Susquehannock peoples.

Notice the corded line work, shaping of the vessel, the lip at the mouth of the vessel, and also the simple human face design at the bottom of the inside of the vessel.

.75" tall, 6.5" around

 

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[quito]

Dang! Excellent save there!!

 

[Charl]

Welcome! What a fantastic and rare find!

 

[welsbury]

Amazing find,you're one lucky guy. Surprising it hadn't been stepped on by critters. I'd be looking there more things for sure.

 

[Plumbata]

Awesome discovery, congrats! This may be a stupid question, but did the NA Natives make and use oil/fat lamps? That's what it looks like to me but it's due to familiarity with ancient European and Near Eastern pottery and ignorance of Native American pieces. I know the Inuit carved oil/blubber lamps and stoves but don't know much besides that.

 

[discoidal roller]

Yabadabadoo! Now that's why I come to this site!

 

[Radon]

Wow, that's beautiful! How old do you think it is?

 

[NJrocks]

Wow, that's beautiful! How old do you think it is?

I would estimate, based on the line work and the materials, to be Middle Woodland Period ~(700 - 1500) AD

 

[arrow86]

Wow ,I have found a lot of pottery pieces but nothing compared to that .... I always just assumed here on east coast they didn’t hold up as well and get broken into pieces ... surely if that was laying to be found there’s much more I would think if anybody was there before hunting for artifacts they would have seen the bowl so maybe you have a great site that’s not been hunted much at all. Can you post some of your other finds I would love to see them

 

[NJrocks]

Amazing find,you're one lucky guy. Surprising it hadn't been stepped on by critters. I'd be looking there more things for sure.

It is truly amazing because dozens of deer walk across this wood daily, and have done so forever. A few does even watched me discover this piece from maybe 20 feet away.

At this site I find projectile points of many varieties / materals, stone fishing hooks, big stone tool heads / celts.

 

[Plumbata]

stone fishing hooks

If you have time to post some pictures I would absolutely LOVE to see those! Sounds like an awesome place to hunt.

 

[AlabamaRelic]

It looks like an oil lamp.

 

[digging440yrs]

Superb fine ! Its not a burial mound , is it ?

 

[NCPeaches]

That is amazing! Excellent find!

 

[NJrocks]

If you have time to post some pictures I would absolutely LOVE to see those! Sounds like an awesome place to hunt.

It is! I will post some photos of what I have found there so far.

 

[welsbury]

Awesome discovery, congrats! This may be a stupid question, but did the NA Natives make and use oil/fat lamps? That's what it looks like to me but it's due to familiarity with ancient European and Near Eastern pottery and ignorance of Native American pieces. I know the Inuit carved oil/blubber lamps and stoves but don't know much besides that.

Klamath and Modoc in Oregon and N. Cal. used an oil lamp. They had a handle and kinda looked like a small frying pan with a dip.

 

[NJrocks]

How interesting. That is most likely what it is, based on the shape. Being that we are a coastal state, I think it increases the likelihood of them having utilized blubber sometimes. They certainly used bear fats and other animal fats / oils on their skin and to treat hides or other items, and in cooking.

If this is the case, has an indigenous clay oil lamp ever been found in the NJ / NY / PA area.. ?

My only other idea is something so small would have contained a ground substance. But why the lipped end? It makes me lean towards the notion of it being an oil lamp.

 

[Jon Stewart]

Outstanding find. That is where I would be spending my summer.

 

[RGINN]

Congrats, cool find! At first I thought maybe that formation in the bottom had something to do with heat dispersal when you were cooking.

 

[NCPeaches]

Outstanding find. That is where I would be spending my summer.

Same here Jon Stewart lol.