MINERALOGY, GEOCHEMISTRY, AND POSSIBLE CLAY SOURCES OF FT. ANCIENT CERAMICS IN THE MIDDLE OHIO RIVER VALLEY

Ceramics of the Ft. Ancient Pre-Madisonville (A.D. 1000-1400) and Madisonville (A.D. 1400 - 1750) cultures in the Middle Ohio River Valley (MORV) display variations in style, form, wall thickness, and possibly clay sources. Ft. Ancient ceramics and potential clay sources were analyzed to test the hypothesis that Pre-Madisonville peoples utilized a large number of clay sources and the Madisonville peoples utilized a limited number of clay sources. X-ray Diffraction and X-ray Fluorescence analyses were conducted on 30 ceramic sherds and 12 potential clay sources from three multi-component Ft. Ancient sites located in the MORV.

Mineralogically the ceramics from all three sites are indistinguishable from one another; all contain quartz and micas. The source clays also appear to be mineralogically indistinguishable from one another and contain quartz, micas, and feldspars. However, using multivarient statistics and bivariate plots, compositional variation for the ceramics was documented between the sites but there was minimal variation between the Pre-Madisonville and Madisonville Horizons within each site. Thus it appears that clay sources remained consistant between the Pre-Madisonville and Madisonville