Secret Recipes: Potting Knowledge and Migration in Mississippian (ca. AD 1000–1600) Tampa Bay, Florida, USA

This article draws from multiple lines of evidence to highlight the role of technical knowledge and secrecy among migrant Mississippian (ca. AD 1000–1600) potting communities in Tampa Bay, Florida. We specifically present the results of compositional pottery analysis and radiocarbon modeling to argue for the emergence of a migrant-founded community of practice that safeguarded access to decorated pottery production. The chemical and petrographic datasets identify compositional distinctions, suggesting that potters making decorated vessels (1) established exclusive access to quality potting clays, (2) used crushed pottery (grog) for temper, (3) deliberately fragmented other decorated vessels for temper, (4) curated ancestral temper caches, and (5) commanded potting techniques that were reserved for decorated pottery manufacture. What is more, grog tempering was ubiquitous at coeval sites farther north, highlighting possible origins for the decorated potting recipe that eventually emerged in Tampa Bay. We ultimately argue that these patterns materialized through a form of public secrecy, whereby migrants established decorated vessel crafting as a skill set to be seen and valued, if not fully understood, by host communities.