Brainerd Ware is a ceramic type that
dates to the late Middle Woodland period, from approximately 600 A.D. to 800
A.D. The full geographic distribution of Brainerd Ware is not currently known,
but it is believed to range from the Mille Lacs-Nokasippi River region to Lake
Winnipeg in southeast Manitoba. Brainerd Ware is often associated with the
poorly developed burial mounds of this region. The most samples for Brainerd
Ware have been excavated at the Gull Lake Dam Site.
Brainerd Ware is split into two similar, yet distinct groups:
A net or piece of cloth is dragged along the surface of a vessel before it dries; this gives it a fabric-like appearance.
Twisted cords are horizontally impressed into the exterior of the pottery's rim. Unlike Blackduck pottery, the cord impression on Brainerd Ware is not the result of paddling.
Both types of Brainerd Ware are found together in all Minnesota sites except McKinstry Mound, and are thought to be culturally related. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that they share some similar morphological characteristics. For example, the lips are often flattened, with the lip rims either slightly curved in, straight, or slightly flared. Decoration also shows signs of relation because it has similar attributes, occurs in the same frequencies, and in the same locations (Caine, p. 48).
In Brainerd Ware, the lips are usually flat to convex. Rim profiles range form slightly in-curved, to straight, to slightly flared. Bases are often sub-concoidal to concoidal. A variant form may be a straight, round-based bowl with a straight rim. The vessels are usually about 14 cm across at the rim and about 16 cm tall.
Decorations such as stick impressions, fingernail notches, or stamps appear on the inside of some of the vessels. These embellishments appear in a very low percentage of the samples taken, however.
Anfinson, Scott F. A Handbook of Minnesota Prehistoric Ceramics. St. Paul: Minnesota Archaeological Society, 1979. pp. 45-46.
Caine, Christy. Some Studies of Minnesota Prehistoric Ceramics. St. Paul: Minnesota Archaeological Society, 1978. p. 48.