MINERALOGICAL COMPARISON OF PRECOLUMBIAN POTTERY FROM HAITI AND EARLY AND MIDDLE CERAMIC PERIOD POTTERY FROM SOUTHWESTERN MAINE

Pottery from Early (3050 to 2150 BP) and Middle (2150 to 1650 BP) Ceramic Period sites from southwestern Maine and two PreColumbian (1200 to 500 BP and 800 to 600 BP) Haitian sites are texturally and compositionally similar to poorly sorted, matrix – rich sandstones and sandy shales. Pottery from each location consists of varying proportions of matrix (paste) and “detrital” (temper) components. The coarser grains from both Maine and Haiti are a bimodal assemblage of silt and fine- to coarse-grained sand. Standard petrographic techniques classifies these “pseudo-sandstones” as micaceous, feldspathic and quartz - rich feldspathic wackes, for the Maine materials, and feldspathic and lithic (volcanogenic) wackes for the Haitian materials. Applying common sandstone provenance diagrams to the samples, the Maine materials appear as having been derived from a recycled orogen, while the Haitian materials plot as both recycled orogen and arc derived sands. Framework grains in the Maine materials are primarily quartz, microcline and sodic plagioclase +/- muscovite, while polycrystalline grains are primarily quartz-feldspar (+/- mica) plutonic grains or granoblastic metamorphic grains. Framework grains in the Haitian samples are primarily quartz and plagioclase, while the polycrystalline grains are predominantly fine-grained volcanics. Framework grains were ultrasonically separated from the matrix. X-ray diffraction analysis of the matrix indicates that quartz and sodic plagioclase are the primary minerals in both Maine and Haiti pots. Clay minerals per se are not significant components of the matrix from either location. Materials used in the construction of the potteries are interpreted to have been local to the sites from which the pot sherds were recovered. Framework grains for the Maine materials are common in local coastal area sands. The matrix for the Maine materials was locally derived from late Pleistocene glacial – marine muds from localities near to the sites, suggesting limited transportation or movement of the finished pots. Haitian pots are attributed to the Tainos whose area included eastern and central Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Bahama Islands. Currently, source(s) for the materials collected at the Haitian sites are not well understood.