Alaskan Pottery: A Classification and Historical Reconstruction

Abstract

Alaskan Pottery has received for the most part somewhat cursory treatment in archaeological reports, and consequently it is often difficult to obtain from published studies data on such basic characteristics as temper, paste, and in some cases, design. Outstanding exceptions to this general tendency are the works of Collins (1937) and de Laguna (1939, 1940, 1947). De Laguna, especially, not only has thoroughly reported upon excavated material but has published information on pottery from many museum collections. Since the publication of de Laguna's penetrating analyses, there have been numerous site reports in which new pottery types were added and old ones partially clarified (Larsen and Rainey 1948; Heizer 1949; Giddings 1949,1952; Oswalt 1952a, 1953a, b, c; Griffin 1953). A systematic approach to Alaskan pottery is needed now to arrange the chronological and geographical positions of various styles and facilitate reference to specific types.