The potters took these various methods of decorating pots and used them to create designs. One common design motif was triangles and nested triangles. People drew these with a pointed or rounded tool (A and B). In other instances, they used a piece of cord (C and D), or a rocker stamp (E) to press a design in the wet clay. The pot makers also sometimes combined these styles to create complex designs (F and G).

          Curvilinear designs are less common but create beautiful patterns (H).

     Some vessels had very complex designs that include rectangular, curvilinear and zoned elements (I and J).

     The pots made in northern Mississippi and western Alabama show similar but clearly different designs (K, L and M). The picture below shows a piece of a pot made at the Tchefuncte site (right) and one from Mississippi or Alabama (left) that share an identical design.

Click on the images to get a closer look.