Southeastern Archaeology - Woodland, Mississippian, Protohistoric

[ShadyGroveAG]

Is anyone doing Archaeology in the Southeast this season? The site I'm working on has great antiquity with cultural associations to the Woodland, Mississippian, and Protohistoric Muskogee and Creek Indians. We've recently uncovered a layer of artifacts that include Incised, glazed ceramics that more often than not include a rim-rider...and they're painted with what seems to be an red iron-oxide (hematite?) pigment. These sherds are occuring with greatest frequency in what seems to be a public structure surrounded by a fortification system. I'd like to analyze the pigment on the sherds and I'm sure anyone with basic knowledge of chemistry would be able to suggest a technique for discovering the makeup of this mystery pigment. I don't have such knowledge. Is there a right or wrong way to go about this?

[ShadyGroveAG]

...and can it be done without spending bills on professional analysis?

[Stephanie Chambers]

Mississippians usually had a red slip to their ceramics, and the painting, was it black? They generally did negative painting. I have a contact at SIUC that her specialty is woodland/mississippian cultures. We just finished an 8 week dig on the Ohio River valley.

[ShadyGroveAG]

The pot was black burnished with an unmistakable red pigment painted on top. I'll try to get a pic posted.

[Stephanie Chambers]

Yes, the red pigment is the slip they used on the pottery. I wish I could remember what she was saying they used. We found a lot of the red hemitite, so it very well could have been that, but I can not say for sure. We also were finding artifacts like you described, as well as a couple full pots that had decorated rims. Do you know if it was Woodland or Mississipian era. I know they can almost run together in places.