Compositional Analysis of Waukesha Phase Pottery from Southeast Wisconsin

In the Spring of 2019, I sent a selection of Middle Woodland pottery samples to National Petrographic Services, Inc. in Rosenberg Texas. Thanks to the funding from the Wisconsin Archeological Society, I was able to have these samples processed into thin sections. The initial selection strategy was aimed at collecting a robust sample of Waukesha Phase pottery types from multiple sites in southeast Wisconsin. The sample was later expanded to include examples of Havana Hopewell pottery from multiple sites in northwest Illinois. A single sample from northeast Illinois was also included in the analysis. Sample selection was constrained by the need to select sherds that were available in the UWM ARL collections and for which permission to conduct destructive analysis was granted. I was then able to conduct petrographic analyses on the thin sections to examine the paste and body composition of the samples. In all, I analyzed 27 sherds from nine sites. The results of this analysis suggest that the composition of the samples could not be statistically differentiated between the sites. Statistical analysis of the data was unable to identify specific samples or recipes by region. Therefore, the results suggest that paste recipes may have been widely shared between people in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and may indicate long-standing relationships within groups in the study region. Results of the study are available in:
Thornton, Megan E.
2020    Compositional Analysis of Pottery from Middle Woodland Waukesha Phase Sites in Southeastern Wisconsin and Havana Hopewell Related Sites in Northeastern and Northwestern Illinois. Unpublished Master’s Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.