Background

This type is similar to Boyd Check Stamped and Galt Check Stamped.

Named after the Overhill Cherokee of the 18th century by Tom Lewis and Madeline Kneberg.

Sorting Criteria

Check stamping on coarsely crushed shell or occasionally coarse grit-tempered pottery.

Known vessel forms include vertical jar rims and incurved or flared bowl rims.

Rims are also sometimes notched.

Chronological Range

The shell-tempered pottery is middle 18th century Cherokee pottery.

The grit temper is thought to be an earlier form, as well as contemporary with the shell-tempered form.

Geographical Range

The majority of this type of pottery is found in along the Little Tennessee and upper Hiwassee Rivers in eastern Tennessee.

Perhaps also found in extreme northern Georgia.

References

Lewis and Kneberg 1946:105.