Coarse grit-tempered Native ceramic body sherd with a fabric-impressed pattern on the exterior surface.
Around 3,000 years ago, pottery emerged as a regular craft in Wampanoag culture and clay pots were commonly used for cooking and storing food. They replaced soapstone bowls because they were lighter and could be shaped with pointed bottoms so they would stand upright when pushed into the earth or propped up with rocks to cook in the coals of a fire. The earliest Wampanoag potters added crushed stone to the clay to prevent it from shrinking or breaking when fired, a process called tempering, but sand and finer gravel were used soon after.
