DownNDirty
Bronze Member
During the summer months one of my favorite ways to beat the heat is to walk the sandbars of a local river and search for relics and Native American pottery. When the river floods some erosion occurs from the banks, and pieces of pottery wash out where there were Native American occupations on the riverbank; many eventually are deposited on sandbars. During the summer the water levels are often very low and the bars are exposed.
I have been doing pretty well there the past few weeks. A couple of weeks ago I was wading along the edge of a sandbar in chest deep water when I spotted a dark spot on the bottom. I dove under and emerged with a fairly large pottery sherd in my hand. As soon as I saw the repeating design that was incised around the outside of the sherd I knew I had found something special. The design is some sort of creature, and I knew that it was a symbol from the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), also known as the Southern Cult.
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography,ceremonies, and mythology of the
Mississippian culture from 1200-1650 AD. The culture was heavily influenced by religious beliefs which included the three worlds known as the "Above World" (the sun, moon and stars), "Middle World" (the Earth) and "Beneath World." The people of the SECC used many symbols on pottery, gorgets and other objects to depict animals, serpents, other creatures and passageways between the worlds.
These symbolic motifs are found mostly in the area of Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and parts of Georgia. They are rarely seen in South Carolina, which makes this find so special. I have found literally thousands of pottery sherds on the river and have never found one with a depiction of a creature on it.
I contacted an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina who is an expert on Mississippian culture and sent him pictures of the sherd; here is his response:
"That is unique! I’ve rarely seen imagery like that on a pot. I think it is a water creature, maybe a snake or underwater panther. It is comparable in some ways to what is depicted on the rattlesnake gorgets–similar body motifs, squared teeth, and “forked eye surround” with squared ends and dots. Compare it to the Lick Creek and Brakebill styles.
I've attached a PowerPoint with a few images to illustrate what I think. First, in the beliefs of people of the Southeast, the underwater panther or piasa (cat monster) is an avatar for the Great Serpent. Both are thought of as lord of the beneath (under water) world. I think that is what is being depicted and it may be a snake, but it may have some cat monster aspects.
Your sherd shares some themes and motifs with the rattlesnake gorget sequence centered in eastern Tennessee. A few rattlesnake gorgets have been found here in SC, so I could see the gorgets influencing local pottery. As you've implied (possible shell tempering) this might not be a local sherd. The rattlesnake gorgets all share some key features, including the squared teeth, forked eye surround with square ends, and bodies decorated with concentric circles, swirls, and spinning crosses. The things I've called whiskers I think are shared both by the gorgets and your sherd, too. On your sherd they come off the nose, while on the gorgets they appear as part of the decoration of the snout. I think that is a stylistic choice and that they both represent the same thing. The whiskers are what make me think of the cat monster.
Two things are interesting about the sherd. While the creature has a linear body (and could be a snake) it lacks the cross-hatched body decoration that seems to indicate a snake across different Mississippian stylistic traditions. It does have the barred oval (which is a variation on the concentric circle and ogee, as you indicated), and that idea appears on the snake bodies. It does appear on other critters, too. The other thing is that the "forked eye" appears as a motif on the creature's body on your sherd, but is a surround decorating the eye of the snakes. That makes me thing your sherd has thematic associations with those snakes, but isn't the same thing. If it was the same snake, it would have that surround on the eye.
The forked eye does appear in other imagery as a motif by itself. I've included images of a bottle found in eastern Tennessee that has some of the same motifs as the rattlesnake gorgets and was likely executed in the same style as the Citico style gorgets.
Overall, I'd say your sherd is intended to depict a Beneath World creature that has the ability to travel between realms. Pretty cool!"
Here are the graphics he sent in the PowerPoint file:
He agreed that the sherd was probably part of a water bottle similar to this one, which makes it ever more rare:
He also said that it was a ceremonial vessel and that it is likely to have washed out of a burial site.
I've always been intrigued by the Mississippian culture so finding this shard was very exciting for me-I guess I'm a nerd that way lol. Here are a few of my recent finds from the river:
Until next time happy hunting, stay cool and good luck
I have been doing pretty well there the past few weeks. A couple of weeks ago I was wading along the edge of a sandbar in chest deep water when I spotted a dark spot on the bottom. I dove under and emerged with a fairly large pottery sherd in my hand. As soon as I saw the repeating design that was incised around the outside of the sherd I knew I had found something special. The design is some sort of creature, and I knew that it was a symbol from the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), also known as the Southern Cult.
The Southeastern Ceremonial Complex is the name given to the regional stylistic similarity of artifacts, iconography,ceremonies, and mythology of the
Mississippian culture from 1200-1650 AD. The culture was heavily influenced by religious beliefs which included the three worlds known as the "Above World" (the sun, moon and stars), "Middle World" (the Earth) and "Beneath World." The people of the SECC used many symbols on pottery, gorgets and other objects to depict animals, serpents, other creatures and passageways between the worlds.
These symbolic motifs are found mostly in the area of Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and parts of Georgia. They are rarely seen in South Carolina, which makes this find so special. I have found literally thousands of pottery sherds on the river and have never found one with a depiction of a creature on it.
I contacted an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina who is an expert on Mississippian culture and sent him pictures of the sherd; here is his response:
"That is unique! I’ve rarely seen imagery like that on a pot. I think it is a water creature, maybe a snake or underwater panther. It is comparable in some ways to what is depicted on the rattlesnake gorgets–similar body motifs, squared teeth, and “forked eye surround” with squared ends and dots. Compare it to the Lick Creek and Brakebill styles.
I've attached a PowerPoint with a few images to illustrate what I think. First, in the beliefs of people of the Southeast, the underwater panther or piasa (cat monster) is an avatar for the Great Serpent. Both are thought of as lord of the beneath (under water) world. I think that is what is being depicted and it may be a snake, but it may have some cat monster aspects.
Your sherd shares some themes and motifs with the rattlesnake gorget sequence centered in eastern Tennessee. A few rattlesnake gorgets have been found here in SC, so I could see the gorgets influencing local pottery. As you've implied (possible shell tempering) this might not be a local sherd. The rattlesnake gorgets all share some key features, including the squared teeth, forked eye surround with square ends, and bodies decorated with concentric circles, swirls, and spinning crosses. The things I've called whiskers I think are shared both by the gorgets and your sherd, too. On your sherd they come off the nose, while on the gorgets they appear as part of the decoration of the snout. I think that is a stylistic choice and that they both represent the same thing. The whiskers are what make me think of the cat monster.
Two things are interesting about the sherd. While the creature has a linear body (and could be a snake) it lacks the cross-hatched body decoration that seems to indicate a snake across different Mississippian stylistic traditions. It does have the barred oval (which is a variation on the concentric circle and ogee, as you indicated), and that idea appears on the snake bodies. It does appear on other critters, too. The other thing is that the "forked eye" appears as a motif on the creature's body on your sherd, but is a surround decorating the eye of the snakes. That makes me thing your sherd has thematic associations with those snakes, but isn't the same thing. If it was the same snake, it would have that surround on the eye.
The forked eye does appear in other imagery as a motif by itself. I've included images of a bottle found in eastern Tennessee that has some of the same motifs as the rattlesnake gorgets and was likely executed in the same style as the Citico style gorgets.
Overall, I'd say your sherd is intended to depict a Beneath World creature that has the ability to travel between realms. Pretty cool!"
Here are the graphics he sent in the PowerPoint file:
He agreed that the sherd was probably part of a water bottle similar to this one, which makes it ever more rare:
He also said that it was a ceremonial vessel and that it is likely to have washed out of a burial site.
I've always been intrigued by the Mississippian culture so finding this shard was very exciting for me-I guess I'm a nerd that way lol. Here are a few of my recent finds from the river:
Until next time happy hunting, stay cool and good luck
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