Pottery

[frogyrogy]

deleted

[gregszybala]

Whoa, Seriously?!? Way to go! I have no idea but I'd do some serious research and keep it protected and in it's condition until you do.
Don't see many of those actually being found now a days. And you have to wonder, if there is one there may be more.

[tomclark]

Holy.... Cow!!! The dirt has gotta come out sometime....but the pressure was somewhat constant in /out for a loooong time. I fear it will crack when pressure is changed..... I'm sure you will get it right! Holy Cow.

[Havenhunter]

I'd be sifting that dirt a spoonful at a time. The pot is a gem but don't just dump the contents.

[pkfrey]

That won't be to hard to clean, just time consuming. Most often, the dirt inside will freeze from moisture and expand, causing frost cracks that can't be seen until it's cleaned. So first, get a small container of water and a toothbrush, and gently clean the outside first. Then look for any mini frost cracks. If you see any, let the outside dry and wrap a piece of clear shipping tape around the entire outside. Don't use duct tape, it tends to be to hard to take off, and can take some pottery off when you remove it. If your lucky, there won't be any pressure cracks caused by freezing. Then, you can slowly dig the ground out with any small utensil. I like a fork, it digs into the dirt a little easier. Start digging the dirt out from the middle toward the outside. If you start at the outside, sometimes you put a little to much pressure in there and when prying the dirt you also put pressure on the inside surface of the vessel. The vessel is very fragile from being in the ground for so long and has completely absorbed all the water it can take, so once you have as much dirt out that you can get, leave the tape on, and let the vessel dry out for a couple days. This is when you will see any cracks, large or small, but with the tape left on it won't fall apart. Once it's completely dry, just take a soft sponge and container of water and gently finish cleaning the dirt off, inside and out. It won't absorb much water, and will dry very quickly. Hopefully it's 100% intact, and you'll have a nice vessel for your collection!

[pkfrey]

P.S. When you clean the dirt out, look for any foreign objects, like pieces of bone, or even artifacts. if the vessel was used for cooking, often you may find scraps of animal bones mixed in with the dirt.

[Kyflintguy]

Woah! Whereabouts you hunting frogy? General location... You've got some good advice here, Paul's technique sounds like a safe way to go about. I wish you luck and hope there's a point cache in the bottom lol. Thanks for sharing!

[frogyrogy]

This site is in NW Alabama . . . at the point where a small feeder creek joins a bigger creek just under a mile upstream from the Tennessee River. Its a smaller version of the large shell middens located all up and down the river and creek mouths between Wilson and Pickwick dams.There are 100's of these middens in the area but most are located on TVA property and you can't even surface hunt there.

[Kyflintguy]

TVA spoils the fun again! Blah! I'm surrounded by miles and miles of productive shoreline, unfortunately its all off limits. Such a bummer, I get preserving sites with context but eroded sites should be allowed to be salvaged... Oh well!

[OnewiththewilD]

Oh my god!!! WOW

[OnewiththewilD]

Big congrats and fingers crossed for ya that it’s not cracked ! I can’t wait to see the clean up pics! ...... your heart musta been racing!!

[OnewiththewilD]

What a day you had! Way to go !

[gregszybala]

Dang! just Dang!

[BabaORiley]

Holy Smokes!!!! That's a museum quality piece...wow man you have a helluva spot there. Bama is really showing it off on here lately...awesome man!!!

[sailorjoe]

Hi fr. You indeed had a great day for sure. It is a darn nice utilitarian pot. My guess it was used for cooking. When you said "ears" I suspect that you mean the loops where the handle/bales were tied so it could be suspended over a fire if it had one such loop on opposite sides. The points are typical of ones I used to find along the Tenn. River in north central Alabama. I used to find "tons" of pottery much of it shell tempered but never a whole bowl. Back in the days when I was hunting in the area, the TVA must have been OK with folks hunting the banks of the river during winter draw down of the reservoir area when the shore below the mean high water line is exposed cause they never tried to interfere with people who did. Also, I would have known about it because of my active membership in the AAS. For what it's worth, I question whether they have the legal authority to enforce federal law in these areas. The reason for my thinking is that on rivers and streams in which it has been legally declared or is recognized as a navigable stream the stream bottom and areas below the mean high water line are usually considered to be owned by the state government and not the feds. That being the case I doubt if the states of AL or TN would care one way or the other if a person is surface collecting but maybe they would. The state of Florida and maybe Georgia apparently do care. But whether the Fedss really do have the authority to do it or not apparently does not keep the TVA rangers from enforcing Antiquity laws as the policy. Not uncommon at all for law enforcement at any level to exceed their legal authority. When they do it about all folks can do is to make a legal test case. And that is not worth the cost for almost everyone. It's easier to just knuckle down and to not collect or if one does then be prepared to pay the costs of going to Federal Court and pay whatever penalties they dictate. I'm done with my rant now but since you mentioned about TVA policy those thoughts came to mind and I had the time to spout off.

[OnewiththewilD]

Incredible, what a great artifact you’ve found and saved! Big congrats man.

[OnewiththewilD]

Did you sift the dirt that was in it? And can you give us top and bottom pics too?

[Jethro355]

That's a nice stirrup bowl. The incising is a very nice touch. That takes this from a "nice find" to a "😳👍OH YEAH" find...