Page 90 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

pot began to develop.24 Probably due to location, many pots were painted red and left to dry.25
This red texture can be seen in most phases throughout Georgia and Alabama and is called
Mission Red Filmed. There is evidence that these types of Red Filmed pottery originated from
the Chattahoochee River in Lawson Field and expanded outward towards the Ocmulgee River
valleys.26 It remains relatively consistent in its use over time except in the “town of Hitchiti”
where there seems to be an increase of using red film to color their pottery.27 The process of
tempering the clay in order to make it durable through the drying process was, generally, to mix
the clay with sand, old ceramic pieces, and crushed shells. The materials to do this type of
tempering was unique to each geographical region and varied among each tribe. However, Foster
notes that within Eufaula, a small Muscogee-speaking tribe which was located among other
Hitchiti and Hitchiti speaking tribes, sites there is no evidence of shell tempering.28 He states that
“Eufaula is consistent with the interpretation that the variation in tempering that is observed is
owing to ethnic variation and not geographic” location.29 The idea that the linguistic variation of
a town could affect ceramic making is exciting and shows that may be a more in-depth study of
the effects of linguistics in Creek nation's ancient ancestors would shed more light onto their
culture. The pots’ style of make, in each phase, can be traced as well as the design on the pottery
itself. Trade is the transfer of goods and ideas and looking at the designs gives a glimpse of the
interaction of ideas between villages based on creativity.

24. Lloyd E. Schroder, The History & Material Culture of the Muscogee Creek in Alabama
and Georgia, 6.

25. Ibid, 74.
26. Thomas Foster II, Archeology of the Lower Muskogee Creek Indians, 1715-1836. 88.
27. Ibid, 90.
28. Ibid, 92.
29. Ibid.

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