Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 84, 2013 Page: 96
270 p. : ill.View a full description of this periodical.
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96 Texas Archeological Society
" Rockport Black-on-Gray. Again a sandy paste
ware, vessels of this type were either coated
with asphaltum or decorated with painted as-
phaltum bands, squiggles, and/or dots. Vessel
interiors and/or exteriors are often partially
or completely coated with asphaltum. Vessel
forms are variable and can be of any of the
shapes known for Rockport ware. Surfaces
upon which the asphaltum was applied, always
subsequent to firing, are usually smooth or,
much less commonly, scored.
A Modified Typology (Ricklis 1995a)
In an overview of Central Coast aboriginal
ceramics published in 1995,I suggested a modifica-
tion of the Suhm and Jelks (1962) typology, based
on observations of sizeable sherd samples from a
number of sites in the areas of Corpus Christi, Co-
pano, and San Antonio Bays. These modifications
reflected certain patterned variations in Rockport
ware decorative motifs which, because they occur
repeatedly in sherd samples from throughout the
Rockport phase area, were believed to be legitimate
and useful augmentations of the original typology.
The net result of these changes is that there came to
be five types in the series, rather than the original
three, as follows:
" Rockport Plain. This type remained as origi-
nally defined, with the sole exception that
unpainted, un-incised rims with notched lips
were not included, given that lip notching is
clearly a decorative technique. Given this
simple fact, it was reasonable to make the sty-
listic distinction of notched lip sherds/vessels
as a decorated type, separate from Rockport
Plain. Low power (10-20X) microscopic ex-
amination of sherd edges revealed that sparse
or moderate amounts of crushed-bone temper
was sometimes present, along with profuse
amounts of fine sand in clay bodies.
" Rockport Crenelated. Since lip notching
commonly gives vessel rims a crenelated ap-
pearance, the typological designation Rock-
port Crenelated was suggested. Sparse-to-
moderate quantities of crushed bone temper
is sometimes present along with the usual
profuse amount of fine sand.
" Rockport Incised. This type was left unmodi-
fied from the original definition formulatedby Suhm and Jelks (1962). Again, it was
observed that sparse-to-moderate amounts
of crushed bone had often been added as
a tempering agent to the usual sandy paste
clay body.
" Rockport Black-on-Gray I. Examination of
Rockport sherd samples revealed that as-
phaltum-painted decorative variants were not
employed randomly, but rather were used in
standard ways, with the result that two distinct
style-based types could be readily identified.
By far the most basic of these is the application
of a narrow painted band of asphaltum along
the vessel lip; often the painted band extends
from the lip proper downward onto the interior
and/or exterior uppermost portion of the rim. In
cases where this band was the sole decorative
element on the vessel, the Rockport Black-on-
Gray I type is represented. Judging from sherd
curvatures, vessels of this type were typically
jars and/or bowls. Microscopic examination of
sherd edges revealed that sparse-to-moderate
amounts of crushed bone temper were present
in some sherds of this type.
" Rockport Black-on-Gray II. This type exhib-
its asphaltum lip banding with the addition
of vertically oriented squiggly lines of as-
phaltum on the vessel exteriors. These lines
begin at the base of the lip bands and extend
variable distances down the exterior surface
of the vessels. This decorative combination
is commonly found on narrow-mouth vessels
(ollas, bottles) that most often have interiors
completely coated with asphaltum. Assum-
ing that such coatings were applied in order
to seal vessel interiors, and considering that
these combined surface treatments are com-
monly found on narrow-mouth pots with
more or less constricted necks, it was inferred
that this type is often represented by vessels
that functioned as water containers (Ricklis
1995a). It was noted that crushed bone tem-
per was only rarely added to the sandy clays
from which vessels of this type were made,
and it was suggested that non-cooking ves-
sels, such as pots of this type were inferred
to represent, might not have required the ad-
ditional tempering agent which would have
mitigated the effects of continual expansion
and contraction of the vessel walls to which
cooking vessels would have been subjected.
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Texas Archeological Society. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society, Volume 84, 2013, periodical, 2013; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1222741/m1/100/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Archeological Society.