Grant Recipient Studies Pottery Production

AWAIRE / Levitt Grant Recipient Studies Tampa Bay Pottery Production

University of Florida Ph.D. student, Trevor Duke, is analyzing pottery from the Tierra Verde mound (8PI51) in the Lyman Warren Collection curated at AWIARE.

University of Florida Ph.D. student, Trevor Duke, is analyzing pottery from the Tierra Verde mound (8PI51) in the Lyman Warren Collection curated at AWIARE.  This research is being funded in part by an AWIARE/Levett Foundation Grant.  According to Trevor, “Tierra Verde’s assemblage is unparalleled for a site in this region for its diversity in style, form, and surface treatment. My preliminary technological analyses of Weeden Island and Safety Harbor sherds housed at the AWIARE research lab indicates that a variety of potters of differing skill levels made mortuary pottery in and around Tampa Bay.”  Pottery samples from Tierra Verde and the Safford Mound (8PI3) in Tarpon Springs are being prepared for petrographic analysis and Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry. These analyses allow archaeologists to assess the mineral and elemental content of clays used to make pottery, which ultimately can highlight pottery production hotspots in both Tampa Bay and across the Southeast. The most recent phase of Trevor’s project has involved the extraction of charred residue from potsherds for radiocarbon dating. Obtaining dates from sampled sites will help to identify the timing of specific changes in pottery production practices in the Tampa Bay region, which is paramount for understanding the development of social networks. 

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