History, archaeology and the construction of ethnicity: Bell Type II ceramics and the Potawatomi

The aboriginal protohistoric, contact and early historic periods are some of the most poorly known and understood temporal-cultural periods in Midwestern archaeology. Archaeologists have been able, in some cases, to assign ethnic affiliation to aboriginal ceramics in the region, where historic documents verify the location of a particular ethnic group at a specific point in time and place. In many other cases, success has proven elusive due to a number of contributing factors; most importantly the limited number of excavated archaeological sites dating to these periods that contain aboriginal ceramics recovered in association with datable trade items.;The purpose of this project is to test a standing hypothesis in Midwestern archaeology, proposing that a middle historic period aboriginal ceramic ware [Bell Type II, first described at the Bell Site (47WN9), Winnebago County, Wisconsin], was manufactured by the historic Potawatomi and their ancestors. First, attribute analysis is conducted on ceramics assemblages from proposed proto Potawatomi and Potawatomi archaeological sites to determine the geographic distribution and volume of specimens attributable to the ware type. As a complementary technique, ceramic and clay specimens from selected archaeological sites were subjected to Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) to provide an additional dataset to help identify patterns in ceramic similarities and differences among assemblages throughout the region.;Attribute and INAA ceramic data is then compared and contrasted with data from the written record regarding the locations and lifeways of the Potawatomi and their ancestors, gathered from written histories, ethnographies, ethnohistories and oral traditions. Results indicate that the geographic distribution of Bell Type II ceramics corresponds with the locations of the protohistoric, contact, early and middle historic period Potawatomi. Ethnohistoric data regarding the protohistoric Central Algonquian groups of lower Michigan, combined with a regional ecological model, supports the pattern of different grit tempered, lip altered ceramic wares in the region representative of distinct social units. Combined with INAA data, the distribution of Bell Type II ceramics on the landscape over time corresponds with the documented westward migration of the Potawatomi during the contact and early historic period, reflecting stages in the process of tribalization and Potawatomi ethnogenesis.