Sherds of Karankawa pottery, known to archeologists as Rockport ware. Two types of this coarse, low-fired earthenware are shown: Rockport plain and Rockport black-on-white. The latter has been decorated with black stripes and squiggles using asphaltum, a naturally occurring beach tar that occurs along the Gulf coast. The Karankawa potters also coated the interiors of large vessels with asphaltum to to seal them for storing water. The sherd at bottom right is from the interior of such a vessel. Nearly 22,000 sherds of Rockport ware were found at the site from, and many were in direct association with the European artifacts.  The vessel forms represented are shallow bowls, some ollas/jars, and tall cylindrical cooking vessels.  TARL Collections; photo by Susan Dial.

Close Window