Keyser

Defining Attributes

Keyser is a late Late Woodland ware, characterized by shell temper, a cord-marked exterior often over-stamped obliquely, a notched lip surface, and a wide mouthed globular body and rounded base. Variations include plain-surfaced exteriors.

Chronology

Stratigraphic sequences and radiometric dating indicate that Keyser pottery dates from ca. A.D. 1400 – A.D. 1550. 

Distribution

Keyser is found throughout the Piedmont, Great Valley, and Ridge and Valley regions of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

Description

Paste/Temper
Keyser has a compact paste that is fine to medium textured. This pottery is very hard, with an average Moh’sscale hardness of 2.5. Color ranges from an oxidized brown to reddish brown, but dull grayish brown is the dominant color. Vessel exteriors often have a blackened appearance. Keyser vessels were irregularly fired in a poorly controlled oxygen reducing atmosphere. The temper consists of finely crushed freshwater mussel shell that varies from 0.5 mm – 8 mm in diameter, and makes up 10 – 30% of the paste. Temper particles are oriented parallel to the vessel walls, creating a laminated appearance in cross-section.

Surface Treatment
Exterior surfaces are cord-marked from the lip to the base of the vessel. Most vessels show cord-marking applied vertically, but a few have cord impressions that are oblique from left to right or are over-stamped. Cord-marking was applied with a double-strand cord twined predominantly with an S-twist, but Z-twist is also well-represented in some collections. Manson, MacCord and Griffin (1944) noted that cord impressions were rarely smoothed over on sherds from the Keyser Farm site (44PA1), but most sherds recovered from the Hughes site (18MO1) and the Moore Village site (18AG43) show signs of partially smoothed-over cord-impressions (Jirikowic 1999:2). Sherds from the Cresaptown (18AG119) and Barton (18AG3) sites also show similar smoothed-over cord-marking on vessel exteriors (Wall 2001). Interior surfaces are roughly smoothed and are dark gray to black in color.

Decoration
Keyser is usually undecorated, but when found, decoration is confined to the exterior rim and lip area. Decoration consists of notched lips, cord-marking, single or double rows of punctations, and X- or V-shaped incised designs. The use of decorative lug handles and loop handles has also been reported, but is not common. More commonly found are pseudo-lugs, which are flat attachments to the exterior of the rim surface that are often impressed vertically with a cord-wrapped paddle or cord-wrapped stick.

Morphology
Keyser vessels are coil-constructed with paddle malleation. Vessels are large, with wide mouths, globular bodies, and rounded bases. Neck areas are very slightly constricted to straight sided. Lips are straight to slightly everted, and usually have cord-impressions made either parallel or transverse to the lip’s edge. Rims are vertical and straight or slightly flaring, and measure between 15 cm - 35 cm in diameter. Vessel wall thickness ranges between 4 mm - 5 mm with an average of 4.5 mm.

Defined in the Literature
Stearns (1940) first described a shell-tempered pottery similar to Keyser from the Hughes site (18MO1), noting its similarities to Monongahela ceramics from the Upper Ohio River Valley. Monongahela shell-tempered ceramics, however, are usually cord-marked with a final Z-twist cordage, and exhibit other elements that distinguish them from Keyser. Manson et al. (1944: 402 -405) published the first definition of Keyser Cord-Marked from pottery sherds recovered at the Keyser Farm site (44PA1), located half a mile from the South Fork of the Shenandoah River between Luray and Front Royal at the foot of Massanutten Mountain in Page County, Virginia. Stewart (1982:82) noted that Keyser was identical to Biggs Ford wares defined by Peck (1979), and the New River shell-tempered ware defined by Evans (1955). In 1999, Jirikowic further refined the definition of Keyser Cord-Marked based on the work done by Manson, MacCord and Griffin and pottery recovered in the early 1990s from the Hughes site (18MO1) in Montgomery County, Maryland. Keyser cord-marked ceramics are well represented in the Keyser village component of the Barton site (18AG3) and from other sites in the area, such as Cresaptown (18AG119), where Keyser ceramics represent a minor element.

Type Site
Keyser Farm site (44PA1)

Maryland sites with Keyser components
Hughes (18MO1)*, Biggs Ford (18FR14)*, Barton (18AG3), Moore Village (18AG43)

* collections at the MAC Lab

References

Curry and Kavanagh 1991; Dent and Jirikowic 1990; Evans 1955; Jirikowic 1999; Manson et al. 1944; Peck 1979; Stearns 1940; Stewart 1982; Wall 2001.