FIGURE 24.—Resemblances between line-zoned hatching and crosshatching on engraved bone pins of the Stallings Island Phase, south Atlantic coast of North America, and pottery vessels of the Valdivia and Machalilla Phases of Ecuador, (a-d, after Williams, ed., 1968: a, fig. 63b; b, fig. 63h; c, fig. 63j; d, fig. 63n. e-h, after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965: e, pi. 6 4 p ; / , pi. 134j; g, pi.
63n; h, pi. 133k)
and in the feature of fiber tempering and occasional use of sand tempering resembles the coeval Puerto Hormiga ceramics of the Caribbean coast of Colombia.
This leads to a postulation that somewhere in lower Middle America, there may be a few coastal middens that served as way-stations in the transfer of the ceramic technique from Ecuador to Georgia, and that the features from the Caribbean coast of Colombia were acquired at these stations.
T h e Orange Complex of Florida
It has also been known to southeastern archeologists for some time that a fiber-tempered pottery complex of an age almost equal to Stallings was associated with the large shell middens that formerly existed along the St. Johns and Indian Rivers on the Atlantic coast of Florida. This Orange complex was first de- scribed by Wyman in 1875 and later by Moore in
1893. Fortunately, other excavations were made in the 1930s, for now these heaps have been almost totally destroyed to provide road material. The lower levels of a number of these deposits are preceramic;
pottery appears about 2000 B . C (Bullen, 1961), and decoration begins at approximately 1600 B . C The range of decoration is much wider and quite different from the Stallings Island sites 150 miles up the Atlantic coast, and there seems to be no evidence of trade.
One of the recent salvage excavations was in the Bluffton site (Bullen, 1955). A remaining fragment of the deposit was 16 to 18 feet deep. Ceramics were confined to the upper 4 to 7 feet, and decorated pottery was found only in the top 2 feet. Bullen (op. cit., p. 7) seems to have evidence of a trend toward thickening of the fiber-tempered ware. Plain pottery ranged from Ys to }^ inch in thickness, with an average of Y4 inch.
Bullen states that " O r a n g e Incised vessels were made of the same paste as plain fiber-tempered containers.
Walls average a little thicker, about % of an inch."
Flat-base Pans
The principal vessel form of Orange pottery has a flat base, 20 to 40 cm. in diameter (fig. 25a; Sears and Griffin, 1950). T h e walls rise at almost a right angle, are relatively low (6-15 cm.) in comparison to vessel diameter, and are either vertical or more commonly slope outward slightly. Some vessels .seem to be square rather than circular (fig. 25h), and occasional rim sherds have low rounded ears. Lips are rounded, thickened and flat, or beveled. These latter often have incised decorations.
WhUe this fiber-tempered pottery is fairly thick (8-18 mm.), vessel bases are often thinner than walls.
Some basal fragments have matting impression, and
on a number there is loose red pigment underneath the base. Much of this ware is remarkably well smoothed considering its fiber content. Incised deco- ration occurs on the walls, lips, and occasionally on the inner surface of walls and bottoms.
This pan shape, lacking in the early South American Formative, is characteristic of the first pottery known in Middle America (fig. 25/). Its history has been discussed on pp. 98-101 and chart 13. Size and pro- portions are simUar, but the grit-tempered pans to the south are fairly well smoothed and polished on all surfaces except the base. In the features of un- polished bases, bases thinner than walls, and thick- ened flattened lips decorated with straight-line inci- sion, they are similar to the Orange pans.
From our unreported excavations at the Chala- huites site, coastal Veracruz, Mexico, 10 percent of the pans had loose red ochre smeared under the base as do some Orange examples. However, fabric- impressed bases are not knoWn from Mesoamerica.
Tick Island Incised
The early decorations in the Orange Phase were found on the top of plain pottery levels at the Palmer and Bluffton sites (Bullen, 1961, p. 104; 1955). T h e more elaborate motifs and decorated lips were lack- ing; only two motifs were found. One was the curvi- linear Tick Island Incised, the other an unnamed arrangement of incised concentric diamonds.
Tick Island Incised has been iUustrated and described by Holmes (1894, pp. 123-124), Sears and Griffin (1950), and Bullen (1955, fig. 2a-c). Tick Island stands apart from the later Orange motifs in that it features broad-line curvUinear scrolls arranged around the vessel necks, and the spaces between scrolls are crudely punctated. Small circles with a dot centered in them were often drawn in these fields of punctations (fig. 25d-e). A rarer design has rows of punctations alternating with incised lines (op. cit., fig. 2e). The circle and dot was also used in this variety.
Scroll motifs are not found in the early Ecuadorian Formative. They are, however, the prominent element of the Barlovento Phase on the north coast of Colombia (1900-1000 B.C.). Reichel-Dolmatoff (1955, pi. 4, 1-9) illustrates curvUinear scrolls made by broad incised lines forming decorative bands around the necks of globular tecomate shape vessels (fig. 25h-i).
Punctations fill the spaces between scroUs, and circle and dot elements are arranged in these fields of punctations. Alternate rows of punctations and broad incised lines are another motif (op. cit., pi. 3-5, -10). The Barlovento pottery is tempered with small amounts of sand, possibly accidental amounts of
172 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME 11
Early Orange Barlovento
FIGURE 25.—Resemblances between vessel shapes and decorations of the early part of the Orange Phase, south Atlantic coast of North America, the Purron Phase of T e h u a c a n , Mexico, and the Barlo- vento Phase of Colombia, a-b, f. Flat-base pan. c, g, Broad-line diamond, d-e, h-i. Incised curvilinear scroll combined with fields of punctations containing circle and dot elements, (a-b, d, f, Florida State Museum collections, c, e, after Holmes, 1894: c, fig.
12, p. 124; e, fig. 9, p. 123. g-i, after Reichel-Dolmatoff', 1955:
g, pi. 5 - 1 ; h, pi. 4 - 1 ; i, pi. 3-1)
ground shell, and possibly ground potsherds. Surfaces are carelessly finished.
Neither Tick Island Incised nor the concentric diamond moUf is present in later Orange Phase sites such as South Indian Field (Ferguson, 1951), Cotton (Griffin and Smith, 1954), or Summer Haven (BuUen, 1961). T h e designs recur, however, on early pottery of the Adena Phase.
Broad-Line Diamonds
This precise concentric diamond arrangement (fig.
25c) has not been iUustrated from northwestern South America where so many other comparisons are found; however, the constituent elements of this motif are present. Concentric rectangles and squares are present in Valdivia ceramics (fig. 25^;
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pis. 42a, 161e-h), executed in broad-line incising. T h e diamond, al- though made by a single broad line and with punc- tated background is found in the Barlovento Phase of Colombia (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1955, pi. 5-1). Holmes (1894, pp. 123-124, figs. 9-12) illustrates a couple of sherds from Clarence B. Moore's excavations at Tick Island that may be early Orange decorated;
at least Tick Island Incised was found. These bear concentric diamond designs executed with wide, round-bottom lines, very similar to the Valdivia and Barlovento examples cited. O n e sherd has a small ear or spout formed on the lip. These ears, common at Bluffton (Bullen, 1955, fig. 1), seem to be another feature of early Orange. A variety of similar rim modifications are found in Valdivia ceramics.
Ayangue Tradition
Most of the Orange decorative motifs resemble those of the engraved pottery of the MachalUla Phase of Ecuador (2000-1500 B . C ) . These decorations also last on into the Chorrera Phase (1500-500 B . C ) . HOW late they persist is not known, for the latter phase has not been adequately reported. Resemblances are mostly confined to two types: Ayangue Incised, and Macha- lUla Double-line Incised. T o distinguish this group, it shall be referred to as the Ayangue tradition. It has an extensive distribution in Mesoamerica after
1500 B.C.
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965, fig. 89) show that Ayangue Incised increases in popularity through the MachalUla Phase, to reach a maximum frequency of about 6 percent at the end of this phase and the beginning of Chorrera. This maximum dates approxi- mately 1600-1400 B.C. Considering the approximate nature of our guess dates, this is very close to the appearance of the decorations to be described below in the Orange ceramics of Florida.
173 T h e MachalUla designs were engraved with a
pointed tool after the vessel surfaces had sometimes been red slipped and were fairly weU polished. Orange surfaces were well smoothed, and designs were drawn with a pomted instrument whUe surfaces were soft enough for incisions. T h e narrow lines contrast with the earlier Tick Island and Stallmgs Island Incised.
The Orange decorations are twice or more the scale of the corresponding designs in MachalUla; they look like crude cartoon imitations. (The drawings in our figures 26-30 are not to scale.)
Incised Herringbone Motifs
Crude herringbone motifs, in which Imes are closely spaced, are arranged both horizontally and vertically on the waUs of Orange pan-shaped bowls (fig. 26a-b).
Both arrangements occur in MachalUla Double-line Incised (fig. 26/-^; Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pp. 123-124), which differs from the Orange herringbone modfs in that the Imes are engraved with a tool having two points. However, multi-pointed tools were used in the Florida decoration assemblage.
Crossed Bands of Incised Lines
Bands of lines drawn at 45 degrees to the rim so that they cross are common to both complexes. Two versions of this motif are found. In one the bands are simply drawn across one another (fig. 26c, h). In the other, one set of bands is broken as it crosses so that it appears to pass behind (fig. 26d-e, i-j). This latter is prominent in Mesoamerican ceramics about 800 B.C. In Orange it is not so well drawn. The bands stop at the point of crossing, but often do not continue. It is in some of the four- to six-line band decorations that multi-pointed tools were employed (fig. 26c). These recall the two-point engravers of MachalUla.
A related motif is that of bands of straight lines leaning at about 45 degrees alternately to right and left (fig. 21 a-b, f-i). More common in Orange than Machalilla, these bands and other motifs are arranged in superimposed horizontal panels that are bounded by two incised lines and encircle the vessels (fig. 27a, h-i). In the Ecuadorian sequence, simUar horizontal paneling is a very prominent feature of the earlier Valdivia Fine-line Incised (Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, p. 60, fig. 32, pis. 61-64).
A variation of this leaning band of lines motif has only a few lines (3-5) in each band bordered by a line of punctations. A fairly common body decoration in MachalUla, this variant is found principally on flattened vessel lips in Orange (fig. 27c, j). As flat lips seem to be late in the Orange Phase, this suggests a late date for the decoration. This is consistent with
Orange Machalilla
FIGURE 26.—Resemblances between pottery decorations of the Orange Phase, south Atlantic coast of North America, and the Machalilla Phase of coastal Ecuador, a-b, f-g. Incised herringbone motif, c, h, Crossed bands of incised lines, d-e, i-j. Crossed bands with one discontinuous element, (a-d, Florida State Museum col- lections, e, after Sears and Griffin, 1950, Fiber-tempered Type 8-3.
/ - / after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1 9 6 5 : / , pi. 137n; g, pi.
138b; h, pi. 133n; i, pi. 133c;j, pi. 133b)
174 SMITHSONIAN C O N T R I B U T I O N S T O ANTHROPOLOGY VOLUME U
its continuation into the succeeding St. Johns Phase.
It also occurs in Tchefuncte and other later ceramics in the eastern United States.
Orange Machalilla
FIGURE 27.—Resemblances between incised decorations of the Orange Phase, south Atlantic coast of North America, and the Machalilla Phase of coastal Ecuador, a-b, f-i. Bands of alternat- ingly slanting lines, c, j , Slanting lines bordered by punctation.
d-e, k-l, Line-filled triangles, (a-d, Florida State Museum collec- tions, e, after Ferguson, 1951, pi. 2 q . / - / , after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1 9 6 5 : / , pi. 132k; g, pi. 132 1; h, pi. 132u; i, pi. 132i;j, pi.
132x; k, pi. 132e; /, pi. 132f)
Line-Filled Triangles
Line-filled triangles appear in both Orange and Machalilla. In some examples, the filling lines slant parallel to one leg of the triangle. Somewhat more unusual are nested chevrons (fig. 21 d-e, k-l).
Dots or Tick Marks Bordering Motifs
T h e custom of occasionally bordering units of deco- ration with small tick marks was practiced in both regions. These marks had two variations: a row of punctations, or a row of short dashes attached to the decorative element like a fringe of tassels (fig. 27c-^,
Hatched Diamonds or Squares
Squares and diamonds fUled with hatched lines are a feature of both Orange and Machalilla ceramics.
Hatching in alternate squares placed at right angles, gives a "basket-work" effect. This is fairly common in Orange (fig. 28a), perhaps less so in Machalilla (fig. 28c), and is a persistent minor element in Middle Formative of Mesoamerica.
Hatched diamonds are large and crude in Orange (fig. 28^), delicate and engraved on polished surfaces in Machalilla (fig. 28/). In the latter, alternate diamonds are not hatched so that a checkerboard effect is achieved.
Zig-zag Bands with Hatched Backgrounds
Triangles arranged in a band with apex alternately up and down, and separated so that a smooth band between them forms a zig-zag, are fairly common both in Orange and Valdivia. Orange examples are usually hatched, Valdivia ones crosshatched (fig.
28c, ^ ) .
Crosshatched and Hatched Bands
Crosshatched line-bordered bands are used in Orange, Valdivia, and Machalilla Phases to form angular motifs. T h e Valdivia examples are hatched in two ways. Usually lines run at 45 degrees to the axis of the band. In the other arrangement the crosshatching lines run lengthwise and at right angles. T h e latter unusual treatment is the only arrangement that seems to be used in Machalilla and Orange (fig.
28d,h-i).
Late Orange Features
Three features found in the Orange ceramics cannot be compared to the Ecuadorian Machalilla Phase.
These are the wide flattened lips bearing incised decoration (fig. 29a-b, e), vessel decoration con- sisting of angular hatched bands (fig. 29c), and simUar bands formed by parallel lines (fig. 29d). These features appear to be late in Orange (Griffin and
175 Smith, 1954, p. 43), possibly too late to have been
derived from the Ecuadorian phase. There are suggestions of relationships with Formative ceramics dating after 1000 B . C
I n geographical terms, the outflared decorated vessel lips find their closest comparisons in the lips of flat-base pans on the Gulf coast of Mexico (fig. 29 f-g) and in the highlands. MacNeish informs me that
in Tehuacan these lips date between 850-550 B . C Zig-zag lines bordering bands of hatching are rather common in the late Orange Phase collections.
These seem to be related to the rectUinear zoned hatching (pp. 141-142, chart 21). Through Meso- america this specialized version of the group of zoned hatched and crosshatched decorations, seems to date between 1000 and 500 B . C In Ecuador it is found in the Chorrera Phase, and in highland Peru in Kotosh Waira-jirca.
Sinular large triangular motifs with plain bands of vessel surface between wide bands of parallel hatch- ing (fig. 29^) also lack exact parallels in MachalUla.
They may, however, reflect the common use of parallel-line bands in that phase (fig 29z).
Rare Orange Decorauons
There are several relatively rare features of Orange decoration that should be considered. One is a rectUinear undulating line motif, which Griffin and Smith (1954, fig. 3-6) illustrate from a widened vessel lip (fig. 29c). This is similar to a motif of MachalUla Double-line Incised (fig 29/'; Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pi. 137a), but is much more common in the broad-line incising of the earlier Valdivia types (op. cit., pis. 59a, 178b).
A piece of tortoise shell from the Cotton site has an engraved meander design based on interlocked T-figures (fig. 30a; Griffin and Smith, 1954, pi. 2-6).
This rather complex design is very similar to engraved motifs found on Valdivia Red Incised (fig. 30b;
Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, p. 81, pis.
102-103).
Discussion
This is very nearly a complete inventory of ceramic features of the fiber-tempered Orange ceramics of Florida. Comparable features have been cited from contemporary phases in northern Colombia and coastal Ecuador. I venture to suggest that the re- semblances are close enough to indicate direct con- tact by ocean voyages, rather than diffusion. How- ever, it is again necessary to postulate an undiscovered ceramic complex in a few coastal shell middens somewhere in lower Middle America, where the
Machalilla
Orange Valdivia
FIGURE 28.—Resemblances between incised decorations of the Orange Phase, south Atlantic coast of North America, and the Machalilla and Valdivia Phases of coastal Ecuador, a-b, e-f, Hatched diamonds or squares, c, g. Zig-zag bands with hatched backgrounds, d, h-i, Crosshatched bands, (a-d, Florida State Museum collections, e-i, after Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965:
^, pi. 134a;/, pi. 133k; ^, pi. 131a;/!, pi. 133p; z, pi. 64j)
324-788 O - 69 - 13
176 SMITHSONIAN C O N T R I B U T I O N S T O A N T H R O P O L O G Y VOLUME 11
features of the flat-base pan (highland Mexico) could be combined with fiber tempering and the Tick Island motif (north coast of Colombia), and the numerous MachalUla decorative motifs. T h a t the contact was not a one-way single trip is indicated by the paraUel chronological position of later features such as decorated thickened rims and zoned hatched designs.
Orange Valdivia