Carson Swastika Swirl

This is a Carson red swastika swirl on buff. This water bottle was plowed up by the farmer who owned the farm and later the rain washed the dirt away and I found it as I walked the site of the Indian village looking for arrow heads. It is a late Mississippian period pot from somewhere around 1500 to 1600 AD. The red paint is made from Iron oxide and animal fat. The design swirls around the pot and meets on three sides, not an easy design to create this well.

Not bad for something buried for over 500 years.

American Indian archeology has been divided into basically four time periods by archeologists – The Paleo Period – Prehistoric to 20,000 years BC – Archaic Period – 20,000 to 10,000 years BC – Woodland Period 10,000 BC to 1000 AD and the Mississippian Period – 1000 AD to 1600 AD

The Paleo period was primarily found in the American southwest because of the cold that existed over much of the north part of America at that time. The later Paleo and other periods spread across the entire continent.

The woodland period was when the Indians started growing crops and staying in one location instead of traveling and hunting all the time. Their stone work was of a much poorer quality but they started making pottery from clay. They tempered their pottery with sand so it didn’t last like the later period pottery did.

During the Mississippian period the American Indians began to come together into tribes from their former existence as extended family groups.