A WONDERFUL STEATITE BOWL

Jim Simmons Jarratt, Virginia

The use of hollowed soft stone as cooking vessels falls chronologically between Archaic Period deerskin-lined holes in the soil and Woodland ceramic vessels, with a good archaeological guess being from 4,000 B.C. to 0 A.D. In the foothills and mountains of the East, outcroppings of steatite are not uncommon. This easily worked talc material is commonly called soapstone because it can be readily carved when initially broken from the outcropping. After exposure to air and fire, the stone hardens and cannot be so easily altered. The prehistoric natives used soapstone to manufacture bowls, pipes, gorgets, net weights and other utilitarian and ceremonial objects.    The manufacturing process was to roughly shape the vessel at the quarry site using assorted cutting tools and hammerstones. Many pots were broken by the aboriginals in this early labor, but if the vessels survived the initial carving, they were further worked by thinning the walls with chisels and occasionally polishing the exterior and interior with abrasives and burnishing tools. The rare intact soapstone bowls that have been found are usually elongated in shape with flat bases and lug handles, but round-based vessels without lug handles have been encountered.    This particular steatite bowl is 174mm high by 260mm in diameter with a wall thickness that varies from 14.6mm thick near the rim to 21.mm thick in the base. The flat bottom globular shape is uncommon, as are the double lines engraved immediately below the rim opening. The exterior and interior surfaces are well polished with exterior color being a medium gray color and the interior being a darker gray-brown. This ancient cooking pot is indeed wonderful because of its unique shape and engraving and because it has survived for hundreds of years to once again be a treasured possession of a proud owner.

Exceptional soapstone bowl from Caldwell County, North Carolina. The flat-bottomed globular shape is uncommon, as are the double-engraved lines just below the rim. From the Jim Simmons collection. REFERENCES Coe, Joffre L. 1952 "The Cultural Sequence of the Carolina Piedmont, Archaeology of Eastern United States. Eights, Douglas L. 1957 The American Indian in North Carolina. Fundaburk, Emma L. and Mary 0. Foreman 1957 Sun Circles and Human Hands. Fowler, William S. 1969 "The Wilbraham Stone Bowl Quarry, Bulletin of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society, Vol.30. Peck, Rodney M. 1989 "Steatite Bowl of the Archaic Period, Central States Archaeological Society Journal. Vol.36, No.2. Maus, James E. 1989 "The Chisel Site, Central States Archaeological Society Journal, Vol.36, No.2.