Keeran Point

Idealized Rockport Incised, "Keeran Point" motif beakers. Adapted from Weinstein 2002, Figure 7-20.
Image of Keeran Point.

The general decorative idea of the “Keeran Point" motif is similar to that of “Cedar Point,” with the important exception that “Keeran Point” exhibits multiple horizontal lines with subsequent over-incising.  At Guadalupe Bay, “Keeran Point” came in three basic patterns:  horizontal lines with vertical over-incised lines, horizontal lines with diagonal over-incised lines, and horizontal lines with crosshatched over-incised lines.  Eventually, these three patterns may be set up as separate motifs.  For now, however, it is the technique of over-incising that allows them to be grouped together as “Keeran Point.”  As with “Cedar Point,” the “Keeran Point" motif occurs in a band around the upper part of the vessel, sometimes with a nondecorated zone between the band and the lip, sometimes with the motif occurring immediately below the lip.  Interestingly, one of the specimens from Guadalupe Bay contained red pigment within its incised lines. 

Several examples of the “Keeran Point" motif are known from the central Texas coast, having been illustrated in past publications from the region.  It also is a fairly common motif along the upper Texas coast where it has been recorded on Goose Creek and San Jacinto Incised sherds.  Over-incising is relatively rare farther east along the Louisiana coast, although several examples of Plaquemine Brushed, var. Plaquemine and Coles Creek Incised, var. Hardy are known to exhibit the technique.  This may indicate that the geographical “heartland” of over-incising is in the Galveston Bay area.
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