FIBER-TEMPERED POTTERY, SOAPSTONE VESSELS, AND SHIFTING ALLIANCES IN THE INTERIOR COASTAL PLAIN OF THE LATE ARCHAIC SOUTHEAST.

Evidence suggests that fiber-tempered pottery from the Ocmulgee Big Bend of the interior Coastal Plain in Georgia was technologically distinctive since it was used for direct-heat as opposed to indirect-heat cooking. It is proposed here that early pottery, accompanied by soapstone vessels, was adopted by people living in the interior Coastal Plain, away from areas of previous pottery concentrations, as the result of a shift in trading alliances coinciding with the growth of trading networks during the Late Archaic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]