Beachfront pottery

[georgia flatlander]

I joined a friend at the Forgotten Coast in Florida’s Franklin County yesterday to do a little fishing. We beached our kayaks at one point to look at the bank of a tidal creek that cut through the white sand. Some of the forest nearby had eroded, and the banks of the creek were slowly collapsing.
There were literally thousands of pot shards spilling from the sand. Apparently, a developer had pushed existing dirt onto the original beach sand to clear an area for lots that never sold. High tides, tropical storms and erosion had covered the soil with displaced beach sand. The recent hurricane uncovered the pottery. We would have needed a dump truck to salvage all of it, so I “rescued” some of the more decorative pieces before they were lost in the ocean forever.
And, as a bonus, we caught some redfish and grilled them for dinner. Fun day!

 

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[welsbury]

What are you holding in first pic?

 

[georgia flatlander]

What are you holding in first pic?

A small pot. It’s broken on one side.

 

[dognose]

that would be a great day. I would have a hard time leaving. The fresh fish is a nice bonus for sure.

 

[goodtime]

Nice finds and great save!

 

[NCPeaches]

So amazing! I'm the same as dognose, I would have had a hard time leaving.

 

[welsbury]

A small pot. It’s broken on one side.

Wow that is cool you can find pottery like that,might be a small whole one there.

 

[georgia flatlander]

If you look at the picture with water in the background, you can zoom in and see quite a few pieces among the rocks and sand.

 

[arrow86]

Wow , I’ve never been big on pottery but there’s some really neat pieces in there some cool designs you don’t see to often. Do you know what time period these are from ?

 

[unclemac]

i would still be there....

 

[GaRebel1861]

I’d be at that site every opportunity that I could get! Nice finds.

 

[georgia flatlander]

Wow , I’ve never been big on pottery but there’s some really neat pieces in there some cool designs you don’t see to often. Do you know what time period these are from ?

Woodland, mainly Swift Creek that evolved into Weeden Island. They are very common along the gulf coast, and anywhere from 800-1200 years old. This was during the time of the Mississippian era mound builders, so a lot of this stuff has pretty intricate designs, although nothing like the designs found in the actual mounds. These pieces were likely just common-use pottery, and were either abandoned or thrown in a midden. There’s no telling what’s covered by ocean, since the shoreline extended nearly 100 miles from where we found this stuff 10,000 years ago.

 

[sandchip]

Wow. That's incredible. No telling what else will be exposed as time passes.

 

[monsterrack]

Those are some nice finds and I would have to have that small pot restored. If you want someone that is good PM me.

 

[joshuaream]

You are far enough north that there could be some stone tools in the mix. I’d look for sharks teeth in the surf with a scoop, heavier items tend to get buried quicker and don’t wash around as much.

Those shards will be worn down to basically nothing within a couple of weeks of getting washed out, the beach is not a kind environment for pottery.

 

[N/A]

The lines, dots and dashes are more than design, they usually tell of family or tribal history. I think I would never leave a site like that because its so darn cool!!

 

[newnan man]

That area of Florida is beautiful and lots of stuff to be found. Joshuream is correct about hard stone. You're closse to Al. & Ga. From there is a greenish hard stone I've seen celts, hammers etc. made from.