Page 87 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

tradition.”7 It is believed that the Lamar suffered dramatic population decimation due to the

introduction of European diseases and were able to band together and create what is known

today as the Muscogee Creek people.8 Phases are relative to time, usually referring to the use of

an item or the influence of, in this case, a design; they often overlap each other. It is important to

keep in mind that phases do not refer to the disappearance or end of a specific village, town, or

civilization. There were three main types of pottery classification during the Lamar phase that

more or less persist through the years in terms of style. Within the Lamar period, there were

twelve known Lamar phases in middle Georgia which, as stated by David Hally, “develops out

of the Savannah” region,9 while Mark Williams and Gray Shapiro describe thirty-five Lamar

sight phases with twenty-one regional chronologies throughout the Southeast.10 The most

common pottery designs from the Lamar phases include the Lamar complicated stamping, Lamar

incised, and Lamar plain; they were also easily recognized with their classic decorated rimed

jars.11 Complicated Square stamp pottery, dated late sixteenth century and early seventeenth

century, was well known and can be identified in over 40 different sites in the Middle Plain

Ocmulgee River valley.12 This type of pottery was usually depicted with a circle surrounded with

lines that usually are corresponding with the four quadrants and empty spaces filled with

gov/ocmu/learn/historyculture/upload/SB28-Lamar-
Site.doc+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.
7. David J. Hally, “An Overview of Lamar Culture,” in Ocmulgee Archaeology, 1936-1986
(Athens: the University of Georgia Press, 1994), 144.
8. “The Lamar Mounds and Village,” Lamar-National Park service.
9. David J. Hally, “An Overview of Lamar Culture,” 149.
10. Mark Williams and Gary Shapiro, Lamar Archaeology: Mississippian Chiefdoms in the
Deep South (Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1990), 30-77.
11. David J. Hally, “An Over View of Lamar Culture,” 145.; Mark Williams and Gary
Shapiro, Lamar Archaeology: Mississippian Chiefdoms in the Deep South, 84.
12. Chad O. Braley, “Historic Indian Period Archeology of the Georgia Coastal Plain,” 39.;
Mark Williams and Gary Shapiro, Lamar Archaeology, 85.

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